Final Vengeance: Prejudice
by LeonhardEuler
Summary: It's been 14 years since the end of the year-long Second Giant War. In the next generation of heroes, an extremely powerful demigod is found. When his father's nature is discovered, everyone starts to turn on him. However, when he has the opportunity to go on a quest, will he be able to redeem himself? or will a prejudice as old as the Olympians themselves get the better of him?
1. A new beginning

**AN: So, this was originally going to be a wing-it style single book that I started on a whim. I have a whole series plotted out, and let me say this: it's actually pretty interesting. I have some special surprises at hand. However, whenever I read this story I get sad. I don't feel proud of it and I feel like a terrible person ruining such a good idea with a story like this. Thus the story will be rewritten. But better.**

_Step 1:_** I've been reading through articles on reading, and how other writers like to organize their thoughts. I picked up some great tips that I hope will make the story better.**

_Step 2:_ **Actually plan. XD I realized most of the reason I don't like this story is that NOTHING HAPPENS. :O Thus by planning this story out better I can make a fast paced book with foreshadowing and all that good stuff without trying to change it when it's too late. Also, my characters won't all be the same. I don't think the characters are very distinguishable in this story. I keep asking myself: Who is Alec? I don't have an answer. He changes too much to fit the scenario. He is dark and moody, then switches to light and sarcastic, then serious and determined. I need to pick.**

_Step 3:_** Write and actually review my work. My grammar and spelling weren't the best but they were good for being hot off the press. I am actually going to review my work for plot reasons, something I hope will greatly improve my story. If you want to find the new version, I will be leaving this one up as a portal to my profile. **

**I am very sorry for this whole mess, and thank everyone who read my story for reading it. I hope you like the new version (not new story, new version)!**

**If you truly believe that the story is good, and that it's fine the way it is PM or review to tell me so. I am not asking for attention, just saying my mind is open and that I'm writing this for you, not me.**

**Sincerely, Leonhard Euler**

**P.S. Euler is my real name (although I wouldn't mind), I just admire him a lot.**


	2. Chapter 1

**AN: Hi, so this is chapter one of my new story. It's set after blood of Olympus. I MAY MAKE CHANGES WHEN BLOOD OF OLYMPUS COMES OUT. However, they will be minor (in case of character deaths, etc.) and mostly timing nuances.**

**Frank and Hazel are assumed dead since Rick made it pretty clear they were going to die. I mean, Hazel's an escapee and Frank was told that he was going to die, so I hope you don't mind.**

* * *

Noah was sitting in the back of a car in a jean and an orange T-shirt that said "Camp Half-Blood". He had a blue, green, and grey backpack made by some company with an Owl Head for a logo. He had unruly black hair and sea green eyes just like his father.

Sitting next to him was a child of Hermes, named Luke, with blue eyes and short brown hair, wearing the same clothes as Noah. He didn't have a backpack, since the back pack was for their swords.

Noah's parents – the famous "it" couple, Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase – were driving him to an extraction. Noah hated extractions. Sure it was nice to save someone from monsters and possibly make a new friend, but they take a fair amount of effort with little recognition gained from anybody for it.

He sighed as they pulled up to the school. It was a reddish-brown brick building that had a small section raised for a second floor. It almost looked like a shape from Tetris. There where creamy concrete steps with a single metal railing down the middle that lead to the glass doors. A sign to the left of the steps had the name of the school written on it, but to Noah it looked like: BBOOICESOTAE IHGH.

"We're here." His mom said cheerily.

"Good luck guys, Iris message us when you're ready." His father said as the two got out of the car.

"Your parents are nice." Luke said. Noah liked Luke, but they weren't very close. He didn't mind his company at all.

"Yeah, they are." Noah said in a bored tone. "C'mon, let's find this kid and get out of here. I hate these."

Luke nodded in agreement. They walked into the end of the year dance, and stood in the door way awkwardly. The room was covered in balloons, ribbons, and posters that were red and white – which Noah guessed were the school colors.

They decided to go to one of the punch tables, conveniently located on the other side of the gym. Most people took a trip to that table, so that'd make their job easier and they could also see the doorway from there.

They scanned the crowd and had no luck finding the demigod. The satyr was very outgoing and was the one who drug him to this party in the first place, but they couldn't find him either. It felt like reading the book _Where's Waldo_, except he was wearing normal clothes.

Noah set the backpack down next to the table and struck up a half-hearted conversation with look so that both of them could keep searching. A cute girl with blonde hair and brown eyes walked up to them. Noah was 14 years old, so he was passing as a freshman. This girl didn't look much older than him.

"Hey, boys." She said, twirling her hair flirtatiously. They eyed her carefully, and Noah discreetly opened the backpack. She talked with Noah for a little bit, while Luke continued searching.

The girl seemed to go on and on, never taking a breath. Trying to be polite, Noah would ask a question here or there. As Noah looked for anyway out of the conversation, Luke grabbed him by the sleeve of the shirt.

"Sorry, but a friend needs our help." Luke said, earning a look of relief from Noah. That quickly changed into glare when he said with a wink, "He'll see you later."

As they walked towards the door, Noah hissed at Luke. "What in Hades' name is wrong with you?"

Luke just chuckled and Noah wiped the scowl off his face when he saw the pair standing at the door. The kid they were looking for was nervously standing against the door with the satyr. The satyr was disguised as a human, his curly red hair leaking from his baseball cap.

"Hey, Noah; Luke." The satyr, Pastor, said, nodded his head in acknowledgement as he said their names. He leaned forward and whispered in their ear. "There are no monsters here, so I don't think you have to worry."

"Don't jinx us, man." Luke said with crooked grin only a son of Hermes could pull off. He turned to the other kid and offered his hand. "I'm Luke."

The kid narrowed his eyes at him and shook his hand tentatively as if expecting him to do something. He spoke hurriedly, as if paid per minute of speaking. "Adam."

"Alright, Adam, you want to come with us? We're friends of Pastor here, and we can take you to camp." Noah said in a friendly, but not too friendly tone. He didn't want to make it come off as if he was trying to be his friend; Adam didn't look like the kind of person who'd appreciate that.

"Sure."

They walked towards the door in silence as Pastor walked in the other direction. He would make sure that no questions get raised about Adam leaving so soon. When Noah was 8, a teacher called the police when one of the kids left in the middle of the school year. One thing led to another and it took several instructors along Chiron manipulating the mist to prevent an S.W.A.T. team from raiding camp – not that they could, but that would only make things worse.

They opened the doors and looked around them. They headed down the steps and turned right to walk down the street. Their scent attracted a lot of monsters and Noah knew that if they were to survive they'd needed to keep moving. After they were a couple blocks away, they turned around a corner as planned, and went into a coffee shop that was there.

They sat down at a table while Adam looked very confused. Noah took out a water bottle and pen, poking holes in the lid. He felt that familiar tug in his gut as he willed the water to squirt out of the bottle. The holes in the water bottle were just small enough so that it created a fine mist. Adam eyes went wide in fear and shock. Luke tossed a drachma, which he no doubt stole from someone, into the mist.

"Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering." Luke said. "Annabeth chase, New York."

An image of Annabeth appeared in the mist and Adam about fainted. Her eyes lit up in joy, and she smiled widely.

"Hey, Luke." Annabeth said. "We'll be on our way."

"Thanks." Luke said, before waving his hand through the message. He turned to Adam as Noah relaxed and stopped the mist. "I promise we'll explain everything later, but it's not safe here."

"Oh, and it's safe at your camp?" He asked suspiciously.

"Yes, come on." Noah commanded, getting out of his seat. Seeing no way out of this, Adam reluctantly followed the pair. As they stepped into the blistering sun, they looked both ways before continuing towards their rendezvous.

Adam kept complaining under his breath, but Noah and Luke ignored him as they searched the streets for danger. Noah was half-hoping a monster would appear, but knew to be careful for what he wished for.

Apparently, you have to be careful for what you half-wish for too. They passed an alleyway and heard something slithering towards them. They looked to their left and found 4 _Scythian Dracaenae_, each with a sword and shield, slithering towards them with their weird ski-like manner of walking.

"Run." Noah said, and this time Adam didn't complain. The _Dracaenae_ weren't fast, but they still somehow managed to stay behind them. Noah thought it was weird they didn't cut them off, because they seemed to know this part of the city better than they did.

They ran down a street and passed a landfill that was on the water – not literally of course. Luke cursed under his breath and Noah saw what he was looking at.

A hundred yards or so, 4 more _Dracaenae_ with swords and shields were walking towards them. Noah quickly ran into the land fill, followed by the other boys. Weaving between the mountains of trash, they took refuge on the water side of a giant pile of trash. Noah climbed halfway up so he had a better vantage point.

"Don't worry, Adam." Luke said with confidence, because Adam was clearly scared. "We've got this under control."

Noah peeked over a fridge that was lying on the side of the pile. His brow furrowed in confusion and signaled for Luke and Adam to come up. They climbed over the trash and peeked over the fridge as well.

"What the…" Luke said softly.

"I know right?" Noah exclaimed quietly. It seemed as if the land fill was waging war on the _Dracaenae_. They watched as a TV tumbled down a pile to the right, breaking up their ranks. Before they regrouped, a tire hub sailed through the air. A _Dracaena_ dissolved into dust as did one of its brethren when it didn't escape a broken toboggan falling from the skies.

"What's happening?" Adam asked and they just shrugged their shoulders. The _Dracaenae_ force had 4 members left. They backed away from the pile where all the malicious garbage had attacked from.

Noah gasped in shock when a kid walked out from the piles, flag pole in hand. It looked like the flag pole had been sharpened crudely. He had midnight black hair that hung unkempt around his face, but was still better than Noah's hair. His face was face was hard and chiseled, as if he was made of marble. He was malnourished, his ribs visible through tears in the grimy shirt he wore.

He held the pole like a spear, with the sharp end facing the nervous _Dracaenae_. They looked at him with an expression they never thought he'd see on a monster's face – terror. He waited for them to charge and they eventually did.

"He's amazing!" Luke said, and Noah couldn't bring himself to disagree. The kid had sloppy form, but had a clear knack for battle. Every time they'd strike at him, he'd step inside and strike or back off keeping them at bay. Evenually, he found an opening and thrust the spear through a throat of one of them. He swept another of its feet jabbed the butt of the pole at the one behind him.

The fourth _Dracaenae _pulled his shield left, blade cocked back for a strike. The kid calmly swung his spear in an upwards arc thrusting when the blade aligned itself with its chest. It dissolved into dust as it pierced its throat.

After a minute or two, he had killed the other _Dracaenae_. At this, the three demigods came out from the trash pile with their swords still in hand. The kid turned around and Noah almost jumped.

Even with his weak appearance, the kid was scary. His black bangs . He had the slightest gray tinge to skin that was only there if you looked hard enough. Then there were the eyes; it was the eyes that scared Noah the most. They were gold, a continuous ring of solid gold that gave Noah the feeling he was not to be trifled with.

"Hi, I'm Noah, and this is Luke and Adam." Noah said slowly, hoping his voice didn't crack. The kid eyed his sword, and Noah got nervous. He knew he could take this kid, but didn't want to take the chance.

"I'm Alec. Whoa, can I see that?" The kid asked incredulously, staring at the blade as if he'd never seen one before. His voice was cold, even in that tone it almost sounded inhuman – like a heavy suitcase rolling along tile. Noah carefully handed him the sword.

Before anyone could react, Alec swept Noah's feet out from under him and kicked Luke in the chest sending him stumbling back. He held the blade at Noah's throat.

"Why are you here?" Alec asked calmly, as if this was an everyday thing. Noah tried to say something, but couldn't find his voice. Adam stepped back until he was against the trash pile, but didn't run off.

In a flash of bronze, Luke struck at Alec. However, he appeared to have been expecting this because he stepped back and kicked him again. Noah kicked Alec's feet from the ground and tripped him. Doing a backwards roll, Noah was forced to watch Luke fight Alec.

Alec's movements were quick, but not as quick as Luke's. In under a minute Luke had disarmed him. Noah signaled Adam to come over to his side.

"Who are you, really?"

Alec stared at Luke. "Good question."

"Are you a half-blood?"

"Are you?"

"_Di Immortales,_ answer the question!" Luke yelled in anger. "Who's your godly parent?"

"I don't know." Alec said calmly, despite the very angry swordsman with a blade pressed against his neck. "But it doesn't matter."

"What should we do with him, Noah?" Luke asked without taking his eyes off of Alec.

"We'll take him with us." Noah said. "We can make him swear not to attack us."

"Fine. Swear on the Styx that you won't attack any of us until we get to camp." Luke growled at him.

"I swear on the river Styx to abide by your terms." Luke hesitantly dropped his sword to his side and Noah picked up his sword off the ground.

"C'mon, we should probably Iris message my parents." Noah said, as the three of them hung by the entrance. Luke kept a watchful eye on Alec. Finally, Percy pulled the black sedan over to the side of the curb.

"Hey, boys." Annabeth said a little too calmly, which meant she was pretty worried. "What happened?"

"Eight _Dracaenae_ cornered us here. We were stuck for a little bit, but we're fine and no one got hurt." Noah reassured, before pointing to Adam. "This is Adam."

"Hey, Adam." Percy said with a smile, leaning forward a bit so he could see him. The smile dropped immediately after that.

"Annabeth…" Percy muttered quietly. Annabeth shot him a warning glance.

"Who's your other friend?" She asked cautiously. Noah was a little worried by how strangely his parents were acting. He knew they were hiding something and he was determined to find out.

"This is Alec." Noah said, pointing to the bored kid who looked like a homeless person dragged him through a grease pit. Alec nodded in affirmation. Annabeth bit her lip nervously.

"Percy, do you mind taking Noah to camp?" Annabeth asked.

"Why?"

"Count the seats, seaweed brain."

"Oops." Percy said as he realized they had one too many. He got out and Annabeth got in the driver's seat.

"Do you mind if he takes you, Noah?"

"Can I go?" Luke asked hopefully, earning a weird looks from Noah's parents. Noah and Adam nodded in agreement while Alec just chuckled. Luke gave him a cold death glare, but he didn't flinch.

"Sure." Percy said. Adam filed into the car as Noah sat in the front seat, Alec climbing in next to Adam.

"What was that all about?" Annabeth asked Noah with a serious tone.

"Uh, it's nothing."

Alec scoffed, looking out the window. "We crossed swords."

"Where's your sword?" Annabeth asked and Noah looked at the floor as Alec chuckled; they weren't kind chuckles that made you want to laugh, they were sarcastic ones that made you want to sock him.

"Noah was kind enough to lend me his."

Annabeth narrowed her eyes at him in the rearview mirror, and Noah was pretty sure she got the hint. Before she could reply, Alec met her stare without flinching. She swerved and about crashed the car, and Alec gripped the door handle tightly. _At least he's not fearless, _Noah thought.

"Daughter of Athena?"

She about crashed the car again. Poor Adam looked scared out of his mind. Annabeth stopped at a stoplight and let out a deep breath.

"Let's save the talking for when we get to camp, ok?"

By the time they got to camp, everyone about jumped out of the car. The tension in the awkward silence was unbearable, and everyone was very happy to get away from it.

"Alec, how much do you know about Greek mythology?" Annabeth asked.

"Enough."

"Enough for what?"

"To survive it." Alec said, his tone clearly indicating that he didn't want to talk about it.

"Ok, you can head to Hermes' cabin. Noah, can you show him where that is?" She said with a suspicious look on her face, before taking Adam to the big house.

They walked in seemed to be awkward silence, but Alec seemed comfortable. He gave Noah a glance and saw how awkward he was.

"Sorry about that." Noah raised an eyebrow. "Attacking you I mean. I didn't and still don't trust you guys. A life spent hiding makes getting found a very stressful situation."

Noah looked at him strangely, unsure how to respond. Alec just apologized for attacking him, admitted he didn't trust him, and then tried to rationalize it. They walked in awkward silence, only broken when Noah pointed a building.

"And this is your cabin." Alec nodded in thanks and walked in. Noah trudged back to the big house, knowing his mother would question him with an intensity that not even lawyers use.

He walked up to the big house and sat down at the table which already had his parents. They didn't look angry just worried. They turned to Noah when he came in.

"Noah, can you please tell us what happened today?"

Noah couldn't help but imagine his mother in a powdered wig and black robes, gavel in hand. He almost laughed at the thought, but decided against it. So he told her the story from the beginning; from the blonde girl flirting with him, to Alec sword fighting Luke. It wasn't much of a tale, but he told them.

"He can't be…" Percy said, shaking his head. "It's impossible."

"Why not? We have the proof right here!" Annabeth exclaimed.

"His appearance is not convicting. Anyways, how would that even work?" Percy said in an annoyed tone. "Who would he take after, the host or the spirit? We don't even know what he looks like!"

"Um, sorry I can't translate your married talk, but what are you guys talking about?" Noah asked. He hated when his parents did this; they'd speak to each other so vaguely it sounded like code. His parents usually would chuckle or smile at him whenever he did this, but when they turned to him with a serious expression he knew the answer.

"This isn't our information to tell, sorry."

"Fine." Noah said. "I've got to go."

Noah walked out of the big house and started off towards the archery range. All the secrecy and surprises were rattling his brain. However, one particular question seemed to underly all of them: What is Alec's story?

* * *

**AN: So, what do you think? I think I like this better than Exiled Hero, and I (at the time unknowingly) lied when I said I was keeping Exiled Hero. It's going bye-bye (I don't think anyone will notice :(). I would be half-impressed if you knew who his father is (there a couple big hints, but they can be ambiguous to some people).**

**Please review! I will love you! Also, if you can tell me what you do/don't like I'd really appreciate it. I'm a brand new writer. Thanks!**

**Euler, out.**


	3. Chapter 2

**AN: Ok, here's chapter 2! I will try to alternate PoV every chapter, but no promises! Also, this whole chapter-a-day thing is extremely unlikely to continue but one to two a week will almost be sure to happen.**

**Also, please please please review and let me know what I can improve! the story will only get better if you do this.**

* * *

The lead counselor came and showed Alec where he would be sleeping incase his parent forgot to claim him tonight (albeit rarely, but it is better to be prepared). Since Alec was 14, he should be claimed tonight. The idea made him nervous; he knew his mother said that his father had passed away, so how could he be claimed? He knew she wasn't lying; he could almost always tell if someone was lying – he had an uncanny ability to read people.

There was only one activity left before dinner, and that was sword fighting. It was a fairly popular activity, and Alec always wanted to learn to use a sword. So he grabbed the one he had and went to practice with the Hermes' kids.

The arena was similar to the coliseum. It had a sand covered, circular opening with a radius of about 20 yards; 5 rows of stands that started 5 feet off the ground; and a single entrance that resembled a portcullis but it had no door. The marble walls, columns, and arches were decorated with small strips filled of etched triumphs from history.

The instructor introduced himself as Percy Jackson. He was probably 30 years old (Alec could usually guess someone's age fairly accurately), fairly muscular yet nimble, with raven black hair and sea green eyes – yep, Noah's father alright.

Today they worked on footwork. That is, how to not fall over when someone is pressing you hard. Also, it keeps the fight balanced since good footwork can make the fight less one dimensional.

Alec got paired up with some kid a year older than him. The kid was experienced, but not a natural. Alec beat most of the time. Alec usually would win by ducking under a telegraphed swipe and knocking him off his feet with the flat of his blade.

"Alec!" Percy said. Alec slashed upwards and used that momentum to bring his blade downwards; stopping the blade just before it would hit his opponent's neck.

"Yeah?" Alec was pretty happy; he was doing well and he enjoyed sword fighting.

"Let's find you someone your own size." Percy said with a wink, making Alec blush ever so slightly from the compliment.

"Sorry!" Alec whispered at his opponent as he rushed towards Percy. His new opponent was probably 2 years older than him, and about 6 inches taller. He held the sword with much more confidence than the previous kid and Alec. He struck and started raining blows on Alec. Alec, caught by surprise, found himself backpedaling.

As his opponent slashed downwards, Alec used the flat of his blade to deflect the blow over his head and then slam into his opponent's kidney. Luckily, his blade was still in position to parry the half-hearted follow up that was already in motion.

"Alec, come here." Percy said, looking amused. "Here, I'll spar with you. Don't worry; I'll go at your pace."

Alec's eyes filled with worry. Alec settled himself down at struck at Percy. Alec barely recovered in time to block the follow up. Percy pressed and backed off in his own rhythm as Alec struggled to follow. Percy was very fast, even when he wasn't trying his hardest. However, Alec pushed hard for the rest of the time until he was drenched in sweat.

"Alright! That's it for today." Percy turned to Alec and clapped him on the back. "You're a natural kid."

"I guess I wouldn't know." Alec mumbled, looking at his feet.

"Now you do." Percy said and chuckled.

Everyone went to dinner and Alec sat at Hermes' table. Percy's eyes followed Alec from the head table as he walked into the mess hall, but he tried to look away when Alec looked at him.

Kids would give him strange looks, and it was starting to get on his nerves. He would glare back at whoever stared at him and the kid's eyes would get filled with terror. He was too angry at them to think it was funny.

After dinner, Chiron got up for announcements all talking between campers stopped. Alec noticed that Noah was sitting at the Poseidon table. Chiron cleared his throat and seemed to make eye contact with everyone but Alec. Alec was beginning to get confused and a little angry that people were treating him so weird.

"Alright! So, as you know, we have a new camper here tonight. His name is Alec and we would like you to make him feel welcome. Next order of business; capture the flag." The kids cheered and Alec smiled. "We will be playing capture the flag; so please don't maim or kill and most importantly have fun!"

"So we're aloud to kill as long as it means we have fun?" Alec whispered to the kid next to him who chuckled. The counselor came up to Alec as he was walking out.

"Why don't we get you some armor, buddy?"

"Okay." Alec said. They walked to the armory, and tried on some armor. It was a loose fit since Alec was so skinny, but he was tall enough it didn't shift around too much. He grabbed a shield as well. Once he had it all on, he grinned. "Let's do this."

Alec didn't really stand out amongst his cabin mates when he had armor on so he was grateful not very many people were staring anymore. The counselor was explaining the demigod rules of capture the flag.

"Tonight we are against Zeus, Athena, Apollo, Phobos, and Ares; and we are allied with Poseidon, Hades, Aphrodite, and Hecate." The counselor said, with a grin on his face.

"What about Nike?" Alec asked.

The counselor chuckled. "They always win games like these, so they have to split up."

"And the Aphrodite girls fight?" Alec had seen the Aphrodite cabin, and the thought of them fighting was weird. He envisioned a phalanx of girls in low cut bronze belly-cuirasses and hair curlers for swords. The archers used flaming hairspray bottles instead of arrows. Then he saw the 2 girls.

They were beautiful. Not the kind of beauty to drive you crazy for them but they looked good enough to stop any male in his tracks for a few seconds. They both wore full battle armor.

"Alec, Justin, Grant, Lacy, Robert, and Theseus will be on defense."

The defender put the flag where it was most of the time a team had this side – Zeus's fist. Justin and Grant were from Hermes, Theseus was from Poseidon, Lacey from Aphrodite, and Robert from Hecate. Lacy walked up to Alec and smiled. Alec smiled sheepishly as he tried to calm his nerves.

"You're the new kid, right? I'm Lacy." She said as she held out her hand. Alec shook it.

"Yeah, I'm Alec."

"Nice to meet you. How old are you?"

Alec finally regained enough composure to think clearly. "I'm 14, how about you?"

Even though her eyebrows were hidden by her helmet, Alec could still see the surprise in her eyes. "I'm 15. Wow, how'd you survive that long? I mean, I'm no satyr, but you have a lightly powerful aura. You're probably a child of the big three."

"I lived in a landfill to hide my scent. I got attacked too often to live anywhere else." Alec said while chuckling. Thankfully, Lacey giggled as well.

"I guess that _is_ good thinking. If it weren't for your eyes, I'd say you're _definitely_ a child of the big three." She said.

Alec frowned slightly, and asked seriously. "What's wrong with my eyes?"

Lacey laughed at his expression. "Your eyes are gold. I think they're kind of cool; scary, but cool."

Alec relaxed a little bit, but was still very confused. "Yeah, must've gotten them from my father. Which god has gold eyes?"

Unfortunately, Lacey never got the chance to answer that question because the rest of their defenders started chasing Apollo kids. Alec went into an aggressive posture and scanned the forest. All of a sudden a girl in full armor with a sword appeared out with 3 other kids.

Alec narrowed his eyes and attacked the girl who was in front. She sidestepped and quickly made a jab at him. Alec deflected it with his blade and forced her to step back with his shield. One guy was fighting Lacey, who was holding her own. Alec parried the strikes from his three opponents and whenever one tried to make a break for the flag he'd trip them with his blade. It took both his sword and shield to parry all the blows, and barely managed it at that.

That was before 2 other kids showed up. Alec was preparing for defeat when it happened. Everyone else's eyes grew huge in surprise and they slowed down as if they were trying to show a toddler how to swing a sword. Alec easily parried a kid's strike and hit him with his shield. He spun under a strike and flipped the kid using his shield. Alec stepped past the girl's jab with her sword knocking her over with his shield.

One of the kids who just showed up jabbed at him with a spear. Alec batted it away with his shield and tripped the kid with his sword. He swung his shield across his body to deflect a blow from the last kid and spun, tripping him with his blade. The kids got up, they were at normal speed again, and formed a semi-circle around him.

All of a sudden it happened again. Their movements slowed down and frustration was etched on their faces. Alec deflected a thrust of a spear and clubbed the kid on the head with his hilt. He tripped the kid to his victim's right with his blade; In the meanwhile, ducking under his slash and smashing the edge of the shield into a kid trying to sneak up on him from behind. He brought the shield back to his left side to parry a slow-mo slash and kicked the kid in the chest. The kid flew back in slow-mo as well.

The girl jabbed at his left and tried rolling to right to evade his slash. It didn't work. He hit brought the face of his shield and smashed her in the chest sending her flying back. Everything was back to normal and Lacey was staring at me in shock.

The conch sounded, ending the game and Lacey came up to high-five Alec.

"We won!" Lacey said with a huge smile.

"Who in Hades are you?" The girl said, clutching her chest.

Alec shrugged looked to the sky. "I was hoping to find out."

"That was amazing!" Lacey said. "I've never seen anything like it."

"Probably a witch." The girl muttered. Alec glared at her and the girl jumped in fear before glaring back.

"What did I ever do to you?" Alec said. His voice dropping a little bit lower and that ever present edge became more prevalent.

The girl paled, and took a step back. "I d-don't k-k-know." She slowly backed away.

Lacey gave Alec a weird look and he just frowned curiously at her. "What?"

"You're nice and all; but _Di Immortales,_ you can be scary when you want to be."

Thunder rumbled in the distance. "Uh… Thanks?"

Lacey rolled her eyes playfully. "Come on, we have got to get back."

The entire walk back kids kept whispering and I knew it was about me. Lacey talked with me on the way back and I have to admit; it was really nice to have someone who didn't look at you like you grew another head.

Alec went to Hermes' cabin and went to bed without saying a word. Whatever he did there was tiring. The entire time there was a tug in his gut; almost like someone grabbed his stomach.

He drifted off to sleep. He found himself on the edge of a dark pit. There was a strong wind blowing towards the pit, and Alec could sense an evil presence in there. Not like Darth Vader, but an ancient evil. As if this thing's sole purpose in the universe was to destroy and cause suffering.

He could hear voices laughing at him in the pit. They were malicious, deep voices that laughed a cruel laugh – as if they couldn't distinguish between joy and suffering.

"This is his child! This is his plan?"

"The boy looks worse than Phineas!"

"I bet he is incapable of killing a fly!"

Alec grew angry and he could feel it swelling in his chest. His mind got focused like it usually did when he was angry. His voice dropped an octave.

"Shut up! If I couldn't kill a fly, you couldn't kill a corpse!"

The laughter quieted down and the evil presence intensified.

"Who do you think you are?"

"Don't you know who your father is?"

"No! He doesn't." There was a small, sadistic chuckle. "The fool didn't even tell you who your father is. This shall be fun to watch."

"It was a stupid plan to begin with."

"_Enough_!" Alec spat into the darkness. "You are all fools. I'll be the greatest hero who ever lived; you'll see!"

"Greatest who ever lived, eh?" One of the voices said. Alec was never one to brag, but his tired of their jeers. Alec wanted to know who his father was; he wanted to know badly.

"I will be able to best my father." Alec put his hands on his hips and made an _humph_ sound.

"You know not who you are talking about, boy." The voices grew in anger and Alec had to keep a grin back.

"I bet my father was the god of flowers. Maybe he was Persephone in disguise!" Alec nodded calmly as if he was deducing 1+1=2.

This had the desired effect. The voices boiled in outrage and Alec listened for a name. Alec would shake his head, laugh, or simply go _pfft_ to keep them going.

"…insult the king of the universe! I…"

"I am Krios! …"

"…little boy! Kronos should never…"

Alec smiley façade dropped into one of disgust at the name. No, he was wrong. It's just a dream, it's not true. He wanted this to end, and to just be a dream – more like a nightmare. Alec wanted to hurt their egos, because they were certainly over-inflated.

"You dare insult the son of Kronos?!" Alec snarled. The voices stopped immediately. A scream can be heard from the pit and more shouting.

"You fool! You know…"

"…rip you apart! You got bested…"

"…didn't mean to! I sw—…"

There was a sickening _crunch _and more screams. Alec smiled at his victory despite the awful circumstances. He was very relieved when the scene changed.

He woke up to the counselor trying to wake everyone up in time for inspection. Alec didn't have anything, so he cleaned up with half of his cabin mates.

Their first activity was arts and crafts (i.e. making weapons). Alec tried forging a sword, but it turned out more like a fan much to his disappointment. Archery went better; Alec could hit the inner half most of the time. The dream was still bothering him, and Chiron flinched every time he shot an arrow.

Finally, they had sword and shield. Alec grabbed the said weapons from the cabin and headed towards the arena. The leader was a woman (it seems like every adult here is about 30) with brown hair, camo pants, and a mean glint in her eyes. She introduced herself as Clarisse La Rue.

It turns out Alec is pretty good with a sword and shield. Almost every time his partner would strike, Alec would both parry with his shield and slash with his sword simultaneously or vice versa. His sparring matches never lasted more than 10 seconds.

"Geez, kid. Where'd you learn to fight like that? Your form is poor – which is to be expected from a runt like you – but you're not bad." Clarisse said. Alec determined he did not like her.

Alec shrugged. "I don't know; it just comes to me, you know?"

So Clarisse wound up training Alec the entire time. She used a spear and shield, which gave her a very useful reach advantage. However, Alec learned quickly that if he closed the distance then he had the advantage.

Alec fought like he never knew he could. If Clarisse thrusted to his right, then Alec would spin to his left while using his shield to deflect it and then slash at her. If she tried to ram him with his shield, he would sidestep and bring his blade down in an overhead strike. If she thrusted right, he would catch the spear (if he had time) between his shield and his chest; if he managed this he would twist and disarm her. However, usually this ended in Clarisse disarming Alec after a minute or two of heated sword fighting.

Their next activity was a free period. Alec was still reeling from his dream last night, and he was scared it might be true. The activities helped him take his mind off things, but now he had time to think.

He decided to walk up to the big house, to talk to Chiron. Since Chiron was a son of Kronos and he is well respected, Alec had hope for himself.

Alec took a deep breath, and knocked on the door. Chiron opened the door and in the background Mr. D was sitting at a table with an annoyed look on his face.

"Yes, Alec?"

"Chiron, could I talk to you about something?" Alec asked nervously.

"Yes, of course you can." Chiron said.

"Sir, I don't believe we've met." Alec said, turning to Mr. D.

He sighed. "I was hoping to keep it that way. I'm Mr. D, god of Wine."

"With all due respect lord Dionysus, may I speak with Chiron alone? It won't be too long." Alec said respectfully as thunder rumbled overhead. In his heart, he didn't like Mr. D already. Alec thought he was lazy and apathetic – which he was.

"What, am I not worthy of your presence? You would do well to remember you are talking to a god, child." Mr. D said.

Alec held his ground though. He knew that if Dionysus knew his father's identity, all of Olympus would know – which would be very bad to say the least. He thought of a plan.

"Well, Lord Dionysus, I figured you wouldn't want to get caught up in all the drama that's going on and if I'm right, this will cause quite the storm. If I say anything with you here, you'd be pestered by the other Olympians to no end." Alec said with convincing innocence – impressive with a voice as dark as his. Mr. D raised an eyebrow, trying to detect any ploys. "I mean, if my mortal mother's problems are really of that much importance to you then I'd be more than willing to share it with you."

"Fine." Mr. D said lazily and was sucked into an invisible vortex with a _pop_! With the smell of grapes in the air, they resumed their conversation.

"Alec, what is so important you need to speak with me alone?" Chiron asked worriedly.

Alec looked out the window. "I had a dream last night. I was in front of a pit clouded in an impenetrable darkness. There were presences there; ancient, evil presences that were honestly quite scary."

"Probably tartarus, where the titans are held prisoner." Chiron explained cautiously. It was a touchy subject and nothing good came from having dreams there.

Alec nodded in acknowledgement and turned to Chiron. "There were voices I heard from the pit; talking to me."

"How many were there?"

"I don't know; maybe 4 to 6."

"You were probably talking to the titans; they must've reformed by now." Chiron said. "You don't need to worry about them though; they are imprisoned quite securely."

"That's not what worried me. They were taunting me; more like taunting someone else. They were mocking him for my existence." Alec explained while looking out the window again. "So, I taunted them back and eventually tricked them into tell me my father's identity."

Alec turned back to Chiron. Alec spoke just above a whisper. "But you already knew who my father was, didn't you Chiron?"

"I had my guesses, and from what you said I was probably right." Chiron said.

"Yes, brother, you were. But that's not why I came to you;" Chiron flinched at that. Alec continued. "I need training to use my powers. This will not stay a secret forever no matter how hard we try, so I might as well learn to control my abilities. When the truth gets out, I know that it will not be pretty."

Chiron nodded in grudging agreement. "You have good insight. Probably inherited from your father; however, you're not like your father are you?"

Alec shook his head. "My mother raised me so that I would never be like my father. She always hated him for a reason I don't know."

"Meet me at night, by Zeus's fist, half an hour after lights out." Chiron said. "Alright, you should probably be headed back now, Alec."

He nodded and stopped in the doorway. "Thanks Chiron. I won't let you down."

* * *

Alec was really nervous as he lay awake in bed, wearing a watch he bought from the camp store that night. He grabbed his weapons and armor before quietly leaving the cabin.

As he walked through the woods towards Zeus' fist, he was very nervous. The shadows cast by the moonlight were large, and obscured much of the forest. If there was anything in the shadows, then he'd never see it.

Finally, he got in sight of Zeus' fist and saw the figure of Chiron next to it. As he got closer, he got more nervous. However, he managed to keep his resolve all the way there.

"Good evening, Alec. Ah, it was good thinking, but your weapons will not be needed." Chiron said tiredly. "Let's begin so we all can sleep. Controlling your ability will require great physical and mental strength. I can help you with some of the finesse of your abilities, but the strength must come from you."

Alec nodded as he set down his weapons. The first exercise that Chiron gave him was simple. He would calm his breathing and focus on nothing. He tried reaching out with his consciousness for anything that would respond. After a couple of minutes, he succeeded.

It was similar to a presence of person – detectable only with your subconscious. He focused on the ever permeating presence – similar to a river in the way that it seemed to flow constantly – that was time; Chiron then helped him control it. Since he was the first demigod of Kronos, Chiron could only give general guidance.

He felt that tug in his gut that he felt last night as he silently willed the "flow" to slow down. Chiron tried to step away to test if it was working, but his movements were slowed slightly and were jerky – as if he was in a pool instead of a forest.

"Good. I fear that is all the time we have tonight." Chiron said with a chuckle at his pun.

"Thank you, Chiron." Alec said as he headed back to his cabin. He went to sleep with the hopes of no dreams.

* * *

**AN: So, how was it? Any tips for me? **

**I like the way this is going. The characters will get deeper, and Alec will finally meet people who don't like him (one specifically, but others as well).**

**By the way, Alec won't win every fight! He's just a natural B.A. because his father is too. No mary sues here! Also, if you haven't guessed, there will be a quest. If you have any ideas I'm open (I have a few of my own but they need refining). **

**Anyone know how to get an indent in this editor? I can't find one? (maybe html, but I'd prefer to avoid that)**

_**Read and Review, please! It would mean a lot to me - seriously, it would.**_

**Euler, out.**


	4. Chapter 3

**AN: and... *drumroll* CHAPTER 3!**

**Please, let me know ANYTHING ****I**** can ****do**** to improve the story or my writing - I'd really appreciate it. Well, you probably do ****not**** want to hear me babble on, so just one more thing before I ****own**** you with my maybe-awesome chapter:**

**if you know any good ****PJO**** stories, PM please. I love them almost as much as my hopefully-soon-to-existent reviewers ;)**

* * *

Emily woke up to the annoying sound of her alarm. She hit the snooze, but it was too late – she was awake. She groggily got ready, and walked out of the big house. Her twin brother came running up to her.

"Hey, Emily." Noah said with a half-smile. Noah wasn't much of a morning person, but Emily was. They each took after one of their parents. Noah was very much like Percy with a lean build, dark black hair, and sea green eyes. Emily looked more like her mother with blonde hair, stormy grey eyes, and an attitude.

Emily sighed. "'Morning Noah."

She went to the mess hall and sat at the Athena table. She admired her mother as an architect and wanted to become one herself. She got along with the children of Athena pretty well, but they had their differences. For one, Emily had some minor control over the water that sparked some of that ancient Athena-Poseidon rivalry (the marriage of her parents helped tone down the rivalry, but not kill it).

After breakfast, Emily headed to her first activity. Since she and her brother were legacies, they lived with each other in the big house and had their own schedules. The only other legacy here was Hazel – a ten year old girl who was named after a deceased friend of Jason and Piper.

Her day was going just fine, until she got to sword fighting class. Her dad was covering for Jason (who was on vacation), so he was the teacher. She was an excellent sword fighter and did not hide it. She was in one of the highest classes, and most of the kids in it were a few years older than her. But when she got there, she saw someone she did _not_ want to have in her class – Alec. The kid was annoying and his powers were freaky.

Naturally, when Percy started pairing us up he of course had to pair Emily with Alec. Emily glared her hardest at her father when he did this, but he ignored me. After everyone split up and walked off.

"I want a new partner!" Emily demanded, trying not to sound whiney.

"Honey, trust me. You two are the some of the best in this class, no question." Percy said with enough finality she knew she wouldn't change his mind. Anger boiled in her, but she was powerless. "Now go, he's waiting for you."

Emily took out her sword and Alec took out his.

"You're going to wish you used your shield, boy." She snarled. She struck at him, but she hit his shield as he drew it off his back. In one fluid motion, she found her feet swept out from under her. She got back up, and attacked again. Her blade was parried by his shield again and she jumped back to avoid a slash from him. She thrusted, but he deflected it the edge of his shield as he stepped closer. Before she could back up, Alec kicked her feet out from under her with his feet.

He held out his shield hand for her, but she knocked it away when she pushed his shield away with the flat of her blade. He chuckled and took off his shield, setting it down behind him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Emily spat as she got up.

"I don't know about you, but I wasn't learning much from that. I think I'll try my chances without my shield." Alec said nonchalantly. Emily still thought he was taunting her, and that only stoked the inferno that was her anger.

She struck at his head, but he deflected and ungracefully countered. He was just as almost fast as she was, but her form was better. However, he could read more of her movements better than she would ever admit. Also, he took every opportunity to cut at her whether it was after sidestepping, rolling, parrying, or deflecting – it didn't matter. Whenever he realized he would miss, he always focused on sidestepping or deflecting before his swing was through.

After 10 minutes of fierce fighting, they were both sweaty. Percy called for a water break as Alec dodged a swing aimed at his head. Emily was pretty sure it would hit him, but she concluded that Percy's call must've messed her up.

"If I wasn't distracted, I would've gotten you there." Emily proclaimed confidently with her chin raised.

Alec just chuckled. "Was the sun in your eyes, too?"

Emily narrowed her eyes and just scoffed. Emily took a drink before she got an idea. She doused water over her head and she felt a little stronger as well as a little less tired. Not the same as Noah or her father's reaction, but similar. Her father rolled his eyes at her, but she just grinned innocently.

They resumed and Emily pressed. She strikes were faster and harder, not to mention that she could see what he was going to do before she did. She was sure she had him, but he held on. He would deflect several parries before she snuck a cut past his defenses. However, he would always roll away. Most of the time, he rolled backwards and they would resume the rhythm. Other times, he would bend his knees like he was going to roll backwards but slide a foot back as he did so. Then he would roll either way (it didn't matter which foot he pulled back, he changed it up) and strike at her side as her attack went over his head. She would back up as he sprung out of his roll at her. Over time, she would turn the tables again.

It wasn't long before he was covered in dirt, and she took that as a sign that she was winning. Percy called 5 minutes left as she struck overhead at him and he did the weirdest thing. He brought the flat of his blade horizontally over his head and rested his left palm on the thickest part of the blade to block her blow. When their blades made contact he tipped his point down so that her blade slid to his left. He grabbed her sword hand with his left hand and pulled. She was yanked off her feet and found his blade in a deadly arc that would end at her neck. She closed her eyes as she lay on the ground until she felt the warm metal touch her neck.

She opened her eyes and found herself staring at a sweaty, dirt-covered boy with a small grin on his face and a blade at her neck. Her wrist was still gripped by his, but his grip wasn't very strong since he was pretty skinny.

"That was really good, you're pretty amazing." He said and cringed on the inside. His voice was creepy, almost…evil. The worst part was he wasn't even trying.

"Way to compliment yourself." Emily said and Alec just rolled his eyes.

"Sorry I was impressed by your skill. I will never commit such a crime again." Alec said as he placed a hand over his heart dramatically. Emily just narrowed her eyes and got up.

"I bet I can beat you before class is over." Emily dared him.

"Oh, yeah?" Alec said through a grin. "I know I can."

Emily was bubbling with anger so she stood ready and he did too. She smirked and kicked up dirt into his face. Percy scowled as he watched them, but she was so angry didn't care. He closed his eyes in panic as Emily thrusted at him. She was grinning in triumph as she was jabbing when she noticed his face was in concentration. He was backed up when the dirt flew in his eyes and as a result bought himself a second or two. However, she saw her blade slow down, and no matter how hard she pushed it, it barely sped up as if she was in a pool. He barely ducked under her strike with his still eyes closed and swiped her feet from under her. Unfortunately, when she fell she did so in real time and it hurt. She tried to stand up before he opened his eyes, but once he stood up again she was slowed down.

He squinted through his dirt covered eyes and smirked. She wanted to slap that triumphant grin off of his face. Although, she was a little scared of him after he did that.

"You're a jerk, you know that? You don't fight with your eyes closed!" She yelled in his face.

"It took all of my concentration to do that, sorry if it offended you. After such a _glorious_ attack, I wasn't able to focus very well." He said, not even sounding bothered when he stressed glorious – as if she had more reason to dislike the move than he did. Her father chuckled at that last comment. Anger bubbled again in her and made her even angrier. Whether she was angry at him for treating her move like it was not offensive or her father for chuckling at that last part, she didn't know.

She wanted to run Alec through, but with his power and his now dirt-free eyes she doubted that it would end well for her.

She continued her day, and was very angry the rest of it. However, she got madder and madder for the rest of the week. Finally, she reached her peak. He was sitting in the courtyard that sat in the center of the ring formed by the cabins. He was tossing a tennis ball and closing his eyes into that concentrated face. The tennis ball would freeze in the air either just before or after it reached the apex of its trajectory. She smirked evilly and creeped up behind him reaching her hand out to where she thinks the ball would be; he tossed the ball up in the air and just before it froze she caught it silently. She was turning around to walk away when he sighed.

"Do you really have nothing better to do?" Alec said turning around as she calmly but quickly put the ball in her back pocket. She cocked her hip to her left and put her right hand on her hip to disguise the movement.

"What do you mean?" She asked suspiciously.

"You took my ball."

I resisted the urge to make a very rude comment here – I figured that he would probably tell my parents for revenge. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yeah, I guessed I should've known you couldn't come up with a plan to grab it like that." He said while smiling apologetically. "Sorry for accusing you."

"I could too!"

He got up and walked until he was inches from her. His cold, steely voice started to unsettle her as he put his mouth to her left ear. He whispered in her ear. "Prove it."

"I could put my hand next to your h-head before you throw it and c-catch it on its way up." Emily whispered shakily. He was starting to creep her out.

"But you'd have nowhere to put it."

"I'd put it in my back pocket, out of your view." Emily answered shakily but with no hesitation and somehow still full of pride. She realized what she said and her hand went to her mouth. As she was about to pull it away, his eyes closed. She didn't realize what was happening until she saw him reach for her back pocket and with surgical position removed the tennis ball like he was playing operator. She found she couldn't move her hand or mouth at all, and her eyes were glued to his eyelids. He stepped back and opened his eyes with the ball in his hand.

He smirked. "That was fun. I knew where it was the whole time. The whole hip thing was way too obvious." He said, before turning on his heels and calmly walking away while tossing the ball.

Emily was furious. He put her through all of that for _fun?!_ She wanted to walk up and smack that creepy, knowing grin off his face. There was capture the flag that night, and there was _no way_ she wouldn't beat the living daylights out of him.

* * *

Emily was getting ready for capture the flag with her brother. Her parents, rather wisely, said that they must always be on the same team. Their parents knew that if they went against each other it would be "they cheated" and "they hit me too hard" for days.

Noah turned to Emily with a questioning glance. "Are you alright?"

"Yes!" She snapped.

Noah raised his hands in defeat. "Sorry, I just didn't remember you scowling non-stop when you were happy. You're putting the Ares kids to shame."

Emily rolled her eyes. "It's that no good, son …"

After a while of swearing Noah coughed, earning a glare of his own. "Are you ever going to say his name?"

"Alec. That wretched little harpy drives me insane."

"Really? He seems pretty mellow to me." Noah said, completely bewildered.

"He's creepy as all get out. He puts the children of Hades to shame."

"Ouch."

"and he loves messing with me! He even admitted me. Today in sword fighting he beat me with his eyes closed and _apologized for it_!"

"Was the apology sarcastic?"

"No…" Emily muttered grudgingly.

"Then maybe you're just overreacting and when you push him that is his form of pushing back."

"Can it, sea worm."

Noah chuckled. They both assigned to border patrol. Emily and Noah stood side by side. Noah was in full armor, with his trident and weighted net. Emily was also in full armor, but she had just a sword – which was plenty for her.

When the game started, she was itching to release her fury. A couple of kids from the Hermes cabin – Alec wasn't among them, much to Emily's disappointment – came running to the creek where she and her brother were standing guard.

2 had swords and one had a shield with a spear. Emily looked at Noah and he understood what she was thinking. Emily feigned moving left, and then moves right. In doing so, she tricked the center guy (the one with the spear) to stab at her. Noah caught the tip with his weighted net and struck him on the head with his trident. Emily went around her brother and blocked the sword from the right guy. She disarmed him and scared him off as her brother was just scaring off the other kid (who he had disarmed with his trident).

"You're good with that trident." Emily said.

"Yeah, I get that a lot. I guess I'm supposed to say you're quite dangerous with that sword, your sisterness." Noah joked with a quite goofy grin. Emily rolled her eyes but smiled. Most of the time they got along and worked well together, but they had their fights like every other sibling.

Emily was scanning the river when her eyes bugged in surprise.

"Hey dirt face!" She yelled at the running figure which had a sword in its hand and a red hair plume – the color of the other team.

It turned around and she could make out the golden eyes. She never saw them up close because she'd always look anywhere but his eyes. Emily always assumed that if she looked into his eyes they'd be scarier than the rest of his features – which were terrifying, although she'd never admit it scared her so badly.

She could barely make out a tongue sticking out of the helmet before the figure continued running off. _The nerve_, Emily thought, _I will make him pay for that!_

She grabbed Noah by the arm and dragged him with her as she chased after him. Noah seemed to know who they were chasing after as he didn't even complain.

She was so intent on finding him that she didn't see it coming. Out of nowhere a wall of bronze came out of her peripheral vision. It didn't hit her very hard, but hard enough to send her sprawling. She watched her brother's net was deflected with his shield (he used the bottom half of the shield to hit the top half of the net so it couldn't do collateral damage). Noah stabbed but Alec deflected it away from himself with his shield and hit him in the head with the flat of his blade.

Emily got up to charge him but he knew she was coming. His heel flicked up and dirt went into her eyes. Alec tripped her with his sword and ran off.

Emily got up and rubbed the dirt out of his eyes. Noah helped her up and they chased after him.

"He's good; maybe too good for us. I'm not sure we can take him."

"What are you talking about? He's overconfident; he just had the element of surprise, that's all!" Emily exclaimed.

They ran to the small clearing where their flag was kept. They came just in time to see Alec holding it with his sword hand, since his sword sheathed, surrounded by 4 groaning guards laying on the ground.

He looked at them and grinned. Emily struck at him but he used the flag like a spear and deflected the blow before jabbing her in her cuirass. She stumbled back from the unexpected force of the blow. Alec deflected a jab from Noah's trident with his shield, then spun as he knocked Noah's net out of the air with his shield while he used the flag to swipe at Noah's feet. Noah was already mid-strike with his trident when the attack came so he couldn't react in time to avoid it.

Emily rushed Alec while he had his back turned to her, still crouching. As soon as she started to swing he launched backwards at her. He hit her square in the chest essentially dodging the blow. She stumbled backwards and ran into a tree which caused her to fall down. As Noah was getting up she saw Alec lightly kick him over again before running off.

Noah got up and groaned. Then he flashed Emily a grin. Emily was thoroughly confused.

"Guess we got to fight for our spot at the top of the food chain, huh?" Noah said. Emily had made a remark last year about them being at the top of the food chain since they were some of the best fighters.

"Not with some no good jerk like him. C'mon. We've got to get him." Emily growled and offered her hand.

Noah rolled his eyes as he took her hand. They rushed together through the woods searching for Alec. They found him fighting with a son of Ares who was holding his own using a shield and spear. They went to join the fight when Alec saw them and she smiled at the fear on his face.

The three started pressing but Alec only seemed to draw strength from this. He fought like a demon, blocking one strike, dodging another to parry the third. Emily was grudgingly impressed. Then 2 more kids from Ares showed up from behind him. She could see the panic on his face. What followed was unforeseen by all of them.

Alec's face distorted into pure determination and cold, calculating fury. It was a look Emily never wanted to see again. She felt like she was trapped in a pool as she tried to strike at him. Alec parried a thrust of a spear and clubbed him in the head before spinning under a slow motion cut. He tripped the guy and in one fluid motion brought the blade up to deflect another kid's blade in the midst of a slow motion swing. He disarmed the kid and kicked him in the chest. Alec barely dodged an overhead slash, but he smashed the kid with his shield. Noah's net would've caught his sword hand except that Alec had more than enough time to dodge it. He spun around the net and rammed Emily through her slash at him. She fell back in slow motion, and saw Noah's thrust of his trident get deflected by Alec's shield as he spun away from her. Using the momentum of the swing he used the flat of the blade to launch Noah to the side.

The only remaining kid tried to run but Alec picked up a sword and threw it at him. It flew in slow motion, but it was still faster than the kid. The hilt hit him square in the back of the head and he sprawled on the forest floor. Alec climbed a tree to his right and things returned to normal. He slid down the tree and ran. All five of us chased him.

When he was 10 yards from the stream, it all of a sudden burst towards him. He was thrown backwards from the force of the blast and hit a tree. He got up, and we encircled him. However, he was beginning to get tired and Noah's little water trick didn't help Alec any. He did his voodoo magic thing and they were all stuck in slow motion again. However, Emily's group was able to move slightly faster than before. Alec managed to parry our strikes with the sword and flag, but never landed any of his own since the strikes weren't _that_ slowed down.

Finally, this must've distracted him because Alec missed a thrust of the flag on his own and Emily brought the blade down on his head with all her force. Everything turned back to normal as her blade hit his head, but blood spurted out of his mouth and onto her helmet (some even got on her face). He crumpled like a ragdoll and Emily smiled victoriously.

Chiron came over and looked him over. He carried him away on his back as Noah glared at Emily. Emily threw her hands up in surrender.

"What?" Emily said.

Noah rolled his eyes and walked away without a word. Emily rage was still coursing through her veins. She calmed herself down, and went to the big house to go to sleep.

As she crawled into bed, she thought about the game. More like, she thought about Alec. She kept going over in her head the times she would get mad at him; searching for a reason. She found none.

It wasn't his fault that he was in that class – and he _was_ a year older than her, so he had more of a right to be there than she did. It wasn't his fault that he never took her bait or got hurt by her insults and jeers; it _was_ his fault whenever he would make a joke at her expense, but Emily's reactions counter-acted that fact. Finally, it most definitely wasn't his fault that he was good with a sword and had super freaky abilities.

That doesn't mean Emily wants to be all buddy-buddy with him; but she came to the conclusion she should lay off him. _Maybe even apologize_, she thought, _I have been rather harsh on him._ Emily couldn't decide; and it was eating her up. It was long into the night before she made her decision.

* * *

**AN: I got nothing to say... except for review please!**

**Did you guys catch my disclaimer? That's why the author's note sounds as forced as my writing. XD**


	5. Chapter 4

**AN: Sorry about the wait; school got really hectic. But I think I like how this chapter turned out. This will be a full-blown story; maybe 100k words or so. I will thusly try to pace it. Alec is kind of Mary Sue at the moment and it won't stay that way for long. He will have his buttons pushed a couple of times and we'll have fun watching him.**

**PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! it would mean a lot to me. Anyways, here's your chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 4: Percy

Percy sighed as he disarmed his opponent and held the point of his sword at their neck. Percy barely broke a sweat, although it was not exactly mindless defeating his opponent.

"How did I beat you this time?"

Alec sighed as he pushed the point of Percy's blade away from his neck. His eyebrows scrunched and his lips pursed. "I think… For one I didn't see the move coming which I should have. Also, I should've been paying attention to your shoulders and hips – not your arm."

Percy nodded slightly in agreement. "And you didn't pullback once I started the move; you were either too tired or got too anxious. Either one is bad. Let's go again." Percy was teaching the sword fighting class the next day; Alec recovered quite quickly thanks to the powers of ambrosia.

Percy wasn't sure what to think about Alec. From Emily's description about their little… fiasco in capture the flag last night, Percy knew that Alec was a son of Kronos. Just hearing Emily describe the effect brought back bad memories. Alec seemed like a nice kid; fierce, but at the same time kind.

Today Percy decided to train Alec during their session since he didn't want Emily taking his head off – again. He was disappointed in Emily, but with the anger from Percy and the pride from the both of them Percy definitely should've seen it coming. Although, Percy expects it was mostly a atmosphere thing – Emily was used to always winning and Alec was quite a formidable foe. Also, she was used to people fearing her and Alec was confident.

Percy was jerked out of his thoughts when the hot metal of Alec's blade pressed against his neck. Percy's eyes went huge in surprise and Alec cocked an eyebrow.

"How did I beat you?" Alec said, trying to mimick Percy's tone.

"Um…"

"Last time I checked dozing off in the middle of a sword fight was _not_ recommended." Alec was smirking and lowered his sword. "It's alright; I know I would never be a better swordsman if I tried my whole life."

Percy liked this kid, even if he was creepy at times. His cheekiness usually overplayed that. Shaking his head, Percy replied encouragingly. "Don't tell yourself that. I learned everything I did from training, you can too."

"Never said that I wasn't going to try; just that I wasn't going to succeed." Alec shrugged as he said that, and then struck at Percy. Percy deflected Alec's attacks while half-consciously thinking again. The ADHD really helped here.

Percy got out of a disarming maneuver and countered. He wasn't sure what was going to happen to Alec, and he was pretty confused. He seemed like a good kid; but his father's nature made him very cautious. Percy ducked under a swing and Alec did a diving roll over Percy's follow up.

Percy deflected a blow just in the nick of time. Percy was still cautious about him, but Annabeth made some good points. He knew Zeus wouldn't go easy on the kid; he wanted to kill Percy and that was over the possibility he might be able to save or destroy Olympus – just the possibility scared Zeus. A son of Kronos would be hard to defend from him. Percy attacked in a rapid series of complex maneuvers and Alec simply backed out of the way.

He liked this about Alec, he wasn't afraid to back away if it meant winning in the end. A lot of heroes – including Annabeth and Percy – are often overcome by pride. It usually causes a lot of problems in the long run, but at least they have confidence.

Percy tried to disarm Alec, but he got out of it this time and made a very good counter attack. Percy was still thinking about Alec's fate though; it made him sad to think that Zeus's infamously rash and prideful decisions might cause someone so young to lose their life. As to why pride would influence this decision; Alec was technically Zeus's half-brother. The thought made Percy's head hurt. If he ever got the chance he was going to call him Uncle.

Percy sighed and realized that it was almost time to end the activity. He pressed lightly on Alec and eventually had his sword at Alec's neck.

"How'd I beat you here?" Percy asked. This was something he learned with teaching; sometimes you had to let them know that they faced opponents who could brute force their way to victory. In a sense, that's what Percy did here.

"Umm…. You trained for most of your life, and I just begun." Alec decided, before smiling. Percy ended class and clapped him on the back.

"Good job, man. See you tomorrow."

Alec headed out and Percy went back to the big house. He had a couple hours before his next session. He caught Annabeth as she was headed to the beach.

"Hey, Annabeth." Percy didn't even bother hiding the smile. Sometimes, out of the blue, seeing her would make him smile so much it actually begins to get a tiny bit uncomfortable.

"How was covering for Jason?"

"At least I can pry Emily off of Alec now." Percy shrugged while Annabeth laughed at that. "I just don't get why she dislikes him as much as she does."

"Maybe it's because she feels threatened." Annabeth suggested which definitely left Percy shooting her a confused look. "We've talked about this before; even trying to eliminate our bias as Parent's we still find our children very capable heroes. They are few kids here that can show them up and most of them are older. The prospect of a kid showing up out of nowhere and beating her again and again annoys her – I think it's good for her."

"Oh, if only you could hear the words that come out of your mouth, wise girl." Percy teased. Annabeth hit him in the shoulder and rolled her eyes.

"Well, seeing as I said them, I can hear my words." Annabeth laughed at that. "I guess that's why your seaweed brain."

"Annabeth, what do you think will happen to Alec?" Percy said, staring off into the massive body of water in front of them.

Annabeth sighed before she replied – even when she was in jeans and a T-shirt while lost in a sad thought Percy still found her beautiful. "I think he'll be fine as long as his secret stays a secret."

"We both know that won't happen."

"I know; I just don't see how we could protect him from the king of the gods. I hope that Zeus doesn't strike Alec down where he stands when it gets out." Annabeth said sadly. Percy threw his arm around his shoulder. She looked at him with a sad smile on her face and worry in her stormy-grey eyes.

"I was just wondering today; what do you think his greatest weakness will be. He is going to be a great warrior, he is plenty cunning, and he appears to have a good heart." Percy said.

"I think he'll have a weakness similar to yours. Think about it; you're a great warrior, cunning when you're being a seaweed brain," She poked him in the ribs playfully as she said that. "And you have a heart of gold. However, you are **manipulatable** in the way that you can always be counted on trying to save your friends no matter the circumstances." Annabeth reasoned.

"Although, he seems rather level headed and that makes me worry because he would not be able to tricked like that." Percy raised his eyebrows questioningly and Annabeth continued. "That is not his fatal flaw; it might turn out to be a major weakness, I don't know him that well. However, I don't have a clue what his fatal flaw is and am not even close to sure on a way to help him be wary of it. In a situation like his he'll need all the help he can get."

Percy kissed her and leaned his forehead against hers. "Mmm, wise girl strikes again. That was quite a speech there."

Annabeth hit him and rolled her eyes, but left her forehead against his. "Whatever."

"I agree though. Hopefully, Noah will befriend him – I think the two of them would be quite a force to be reckoned with." Percy chuckled at the thought.

They talked about other things for a while, but eventually Annabeth had to go lead another activity. Percy went to go find someone to talk to. Since Jason and Piper were on vacation, Percy didn't have a lot of really close friends around – unless you count Leo, but he was pretty busy running that mechanic's shop with Calypso. Percy smiled at the thought of his reaction when he found out: one, Leo and Calypso fell in love; two, Calypso would work on mechanical projects. They would visit from time to time, sometimes staying for weeks, but most of the time they weren't here.

Percy found Emily reading a book while sitting down on the porch of the big house. Percy sat down next to her and gave her a side hug.

"Hello, dad."

"What are you reading there, Emily?"

"_To Kill a Mocking Bird_"

"Good book." Percy mused and Emily gave him a suspicious look. "Or so I heard."

Emily smiled at that. "That's what I thought."

""Hey, I can read thank you very much. You shouldn't be so quick to judge."

"It doesn't matter if I judge correctly."

Percy chuckled. "Wise like your mother. Oh, and speaking of judging too quickly…"

Percy gave her a meaningful look. Emily sighed as she knew this was coming. "Look, I know what I did was technically…"

Percy clamped a hand over her mouth and smirked. "I don't want your pre-planned speech. I want you to talk to him; not me."

"But, Dad!"

"No. That is final; it was your mistake, and so you have to fix it."

"Ok, fine."

Percy hugged her tighter for a second. "Try to get to know him; he's quite different than you'd expect."

He laughed at the disbelieving look on her face and went inside to the big house. He took a short nap, and finished the rest of his day routinely.

The next day, Percy was walking with Annabeth along the beach during his break. They were talking about little things and just enjoying each other's company.

As they were holding hands in silence, a man walked out of the lake. The man was tan with black hair and green eyes. Wearing Bermuda shorts and a Hawaii shirt, he looked like a lost surfer; but Percy knew better.

"Father?" Percy asked.

Poseidon nodded and turned to Annabeth. "My dear, would you mind if I stole Percy for a minute?"

"Not at all, Lord Poseidon." Poseidon smiled as he put his arm around Percy; leading him into the lake. They walked until they were deep enough for no one to hear or see them.

"So, what's all this about?" Percy asked cautiously; his father or not, Poseidon was still a very powerful god.

"What, I can't talk to my own son?" Poseidon asked playfully.

Percy shook his head with a small smile. "You can, but I can tell that's not why you're here."

Poseidon pursed his lips which started to worry Percy. Not that this meant something awful is going to happen, but it didn't mean anything good.

"Something is going on, and I'm not quite sure but I want you to be very careful."  
"What kind of things?"

"For one, Artemis has been hunting something very powerful; but she can't get close to it because whatever it is attracts a lot of monsters. Also, the titans are becoming restless in their prisons."

Percy's eyes widened at that last part. "You don't mean to say…"

"I'm not sure; most of what I know, I told you. However, I feel like this is a scheme. Ares, Amphrite, and Hera have been a little unsettled as if something's bothering them. Well, Amphrite is happier than usual but I have the feeling it's not for a good reason." Poseidon gave Percy a look when he said that.

Percy sighed. "I guess I should've known she would try something."

"Don't be so quick to judge." Poseidon warned calmly.

"You too." Percy pointed out.

Poseidon put his hand on Percy's shoulder. "I see Annabeth's wisdom is rubbing off on you. I just want you to be careful because I don't like how things are playing out."

Percy went back to the surface to a very bored and irritated Annabeth lying down on the beach. He laid himself on top of her and kissed her gently before whispering in her ear.

"Sorry about that." Percy said.

Annabeth gave a small smile. "It's alright, what did he want to talk to you about?"

Percy rolled off of her so he was at her side. "Apparently, something's going on but he doesn't know what it is. I just find it weird it's him coming to me and saying that, and not… I don't know, Athena."

Annabeth turned in the sand to face him. "I'm sure there's a reason for it. Let's hope Alec doesn't get caught up in this; things will very quickly go to Tartarus if he does."

Percy nodded in agreement. They got up and he walked her to her next lesson she had to teach before heading to his own. As Percy took his mind off things, he began to hope that Poseidon was just being paranoid.

Percy was talking to Noah about what his father said after dinner. He didn't tell Noah most of what Poseidon said; just the gist of it. However, Noah looked like he was thinking hard when Percy finished.

"Dad, why hasn't Alec been claimed?"

Percy had to use all of his self-control in order to keep his eyes from exploding in surprise. Having kids with Annabeth sure has some downsides – not that he regrets it, though. They seemed to ask the right questions whenever you don't want them to find something out.

"That, is a very complicated matter I am not sure anyone knows about." Percy said. He hoped that didn't count as lying since it was technically true; there are is no witnesses to say that Kronos is Alec's father and although Annabeth may have speculated how his existence was possible, it wasn't proven by any means.

"That would make the other gods very upset though, right?"

Percy thought about it. "Yes, I guess it would."

"Could that be the trouble?"

Percy smiled widely in pride when he said that. "Noah – that is actually very possible. I'll have to ask your mom about that."

Noah beamed at Percy which made Percy smile even wider. They switched topics and talked about more normal stuff for a while before Noah had to go to bed.

Percy went to bed and laid facing Annabeth. With the moonlight form the window reflecting off of her hair and the peaceful setting of their bedroom, the serenity of the moment almost made Percy forget what he was going to talk to Annabeth about.

"Noah had an interesting idea today." Percy said softly.

"Hmm?"

"He wondered why Alec wasn't claimed; we need to figure out a cover story. That's a pretty big deal."

Annabeth smiled with pride and thought about it for a second. "I mean, we can't exactly pin him on another deity for a multitude of reasons. Also, we can't pin him on any faded deity except his true father since they all faded long before he was born. I guess we'll have to wait it out; there's no hiding it."

Percy nodded glumly. "The poor kid; he is probably going to get teased a lot."

Annabeth let out a small laugh. "You make it sound like he's your kid."

"I'm more of a father figure than his real dad." Percy mumbled, and Annabeth kissed him to let him know it was alright.

"That'd make Emily his sibling." Annabeth pointed out.

"They'd win sibling rivalry of the year award."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "I don't get why she gets so upset at him."

"It's because he's a champion. He's a natural and I think it bugs her with all the work she puts towards being the best."

"That would stink." Annabeth admitted.

"Yeah, but I don't think he'd be one to ride the coat tails. It makes me wonder what adventures he'll have." Percy said.

"Hopefully, none as scary as ours."

"Yeah." Percy yawned as he nodded in agreement. "Good night, Annabeth."

"Goodnight Percy."

* * *

**AN: So... Bad, Horrible, Worse-than-looking-at-Medusa? Eh, I didn't find it that much worse than my other chapters but it needed to be here. I was considering doing this first person, but I like the mystery to Alec's character.**

**Next chapter up tonight or tomorrow probably. Most likely tonight to be honest.**

**out, Euler.**


	6. Chapter 5

**AN: Sorry for the wait; but Chapter 6 will probably be up tonight as well. School has been a bit of a time consumer lately. So here it is! and please, if there is anything you don't like about the story, please share! I won't become a better writer by my own (well, I might get a little better but you know what I mean!). **

**Anyways, thanks for reading! And I guess I forgot the disclaimer:**

**ヂスクレーマー****:**** 私は****Percy Jackson and the Olympians****の世界とキャラクターが所有していません。**

**(I hope that's right, it'd be embarrassing if it wasn't)**

* * *

Chapter 5: Alec

Alec was walking to his first activity a little bit early, and as he passed the courtyard in the center he saw the 5 faces he never wanted to see. It was just over a week in and he had found himself some bullies; Alec didn't like bullies on a principle of moral. He always felt an obligation to ignore them; however, if they pushed him too hard he would put them in their place. He usually didn't like the end result when that happened.

"Wassup, wimp?" The leader, Johnathan, called out as his goonies followed him over to Alec. Alec rolled his eyes at the feeble attempt to insult him.

"The sky I guess." Alec tried moving on but Johnathan put an arm in front of him. Alec glared up at him half-heartedly.

"Where do you think you're going?" Johnathan asked. "And don't glare at me – I know it's empty and it'll only get you hurt."

"I have sword fighting in a couple minutes." Alec said lazily.

Johnathan pushed him. "Not anymore you don't. Run off; you're not a fighter, why do you need sword fighting?"

Alec could feel the anger slowly bubbling up and he counted to ten in his head. He imagined his anger as a vat of bubbling liquid that he was compressing with his hands.

"I've got to get going; I'm wasting no more time with people like you." Alec coolly said. Johnathan narrowed his eyes, but Alec walked away before he could say anything. He calmed his fury before starting towards the arena.

He circled around and found them waiting at the entrance of the arena.

"Who do you think you are?" One of the goons spoke this time.

"Whoa!" Alec exclaimed with mock-joy; the goons never spoke. He just wanted them out of the way, so he put a plan in action. "Your first words! And pointless threatening ones at that! I'm sure your father wishes he could've been here for this very important moment."

Since they were all Ares' kids Alec knew what was going to happen; Johnathan swung at him as the others circled around and he ducked under the punch. Alec walked past them into the arena.

"Sorry I'm late, Mr. Jackson." He told Percy.

"Please, call me Percy, Alec. No need for formalities. And don't worry about it" Percy said.

He went over to where Emily was waiting for him. Even if it was for a couple minutes he knew she'd be irritated. "Sorry, got caught up with some acquaintances."

Emily narrowed her eyes and struck. Alec deflected the blow and countered. Once they got into a rhythm Alec let go. He just let his emotions flow. That's what he loved about sword fighting; he didn't have to worry about anything other than making sure neither of them got hurt.

Slowly, he could feel the rhythm change; he sped up and attacked more while countering faster, even landing some soft blows with his knees to push her back and set her off balance. After a minute or two, he had the blade at her neck.

He stepped back, relaxed himself before waiting for her. She struck and he sidestepped. He vented his anger and his hands went into autopilot mode. His rage fueled him – as if he had taken instant steroids. The attacks increased in intensity tenfold and he still placed them strategically. Within no more than 20 seconds he had her beat. When he was angry, he became hyper-focused – only if he could control it though. The madder he got the harder it was to control; but he controlled it better than most.

The rest of the session went along those lines; Alec would unleash his pent up fury and tear her to shreds. Alec started feeling bad for her, and tried to hold back a little bit. He knew that if she figured out he was holding back, then she'd run him through. Finally, Percy called for their final water break.

"Sorry." Alec said to Emily as they grabbed their water.

Emily raised an eyebrow. "For what?"

"I am just a little frustrated right now, and I didn't mean to take it out on you." Alec explained meekly.

Emily rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

They continued fighting and Alec made sure to keep her on the defensive – with varying degrees of success. He knew she hated losing and he didn't want to anger her; not that she scared him but because he didn't like making people angry unless they made him angry.

As they were walking out of the arena, someone called out his name. Alec turned around and saw Emily walking towards him.

"Yes?" Alec responded.

"I would just like to say… I'm sorry." Alec gave her a questioning look. "For the thing at capture the flag."

Alec gave her a small smile and put a hand on her shoulder, which she shrugged off. "Honestly, you were forgiven days ago. I appreciate the apology though; good things come to people who do good deeds."

Emily just stared at him in confusion and Alec sighed. Emily walked away from the awkward tension in the air. Alec could swear if he ran his arm through the air he'd hit something because the tension was so thick.

He sighed and was about to start walking to his next activity. He heard someone shouting and then silence. Alec carefully walked around the side of the Arena that was the most out of sight part.

He saw his 5 least favorite people cornering Emily. They had murderous looks in their eye. She was trying to fend them off but they weren't really trying. They just pushed her around – literally. Alec walked briskly towards the group and he got angrier with every step.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Alec asked angrily; it was slow and not much louder than his normal voice, but it had a hard edge to it. It sounded like an army of swords scraping against a boulder – his voice was a truly terrifying sound. He didn't know why he was so angry; maybe he it was them bullying someone other than him.

They turned to him with a scared look, before Johnathan recomposed himself. He smirked, but it was only half-hearted. The fear was still etched in his posture.

"What? Come to s-save your girlfriend?" He sneered somewhat shakily.

Alec laughed cruelly. "You are pathetic. That's your best shot? It's cliché and meaningless."

Johnathan narrowed his eyes. "I have enough from you. We need to put you in your place."

That's when it happened. Something clicked in his head and he knew he had a choice; and he knew how each one ended. It was like someone showed him where he was on a map – you could see where you think you wanted to go, and where it may lead you in the near future but he had no clue had it affected his overall journey.

Alec walked up to Johnathan and before Johnathan could realize what was happening, stepped onto the outside of his right knee. He had barely collapsed before Alec's left elbow smashed him in the head. The rest of the kids charged him, but Alec's rage proved too much.

Alec punched one kid in the gut spinning from his recently thrown elbow still, and threw him by his head at the others. When the others stumbled Alec knocked one out with a right hook to the jaw and followed it up by smashing his right elbow into the chest of the guy next to him. He ducked under a punch, punching his assailant in the ribs with his left and sending him sprawling with a right uppercut. Alec saw the last kid charging him and jumped. He leapt towards the kid and grabbed his head with his hands. He somersaulted over his head in mid-air and threw him – albeit it was only a couple of meters.

Alec stood there and took a couple deep breaths before turning to Emily. She looked mortified – a look he'd never think he'd ever see on her face. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was barely open. The blood was drained from her face and her hands were shaking.

Alec stepped towards her and when she flinched he grabbed her quickly but lightly. She struggled at first but relaxed after a couple of seconds. He shifted his head from side to side as he searched her face for injuries.

"You alright?"

She nodded. Alec brushed some hair out of her face and put an arm around her shoulder. He led her to the courtyard, by which time she was starting to get back to normal.

They went their separate ways and Alec cursed himself. Thank goodness Chiron taught him how to control his abilities because he didn't even want to know what he would've done with more time. It was 9:04:36, so he could still make his next activity.

He went through the activities until he finally got to the one he enjoyed as much as sword fighting – sword and shield. It is exactly as it sounds and in Alec's opinion it was just as good as sword fighting. It felt more comfortable than just a sword though; he liked the multi-faceted purpose of the shield.

Clarisse usually taught Alec one on one during this session. He was better with a sword and shield than he was with just a sword. Alec spent some time learning how to use a spear, but focused on his technique using his sword.

At one point a new kid came up to Clarisse during a water break. He was taller than Alec, with short brown hair and a fierce look in his eyes.

"What are you doing, training _him _one on one? He's not even claimed, so he probably doesn't know what he's even good at." The kid exclaimed.

"Listen, punk. This is my decision; you think you're better than him? Duel him. At least that way one of you brats is dealt with." Clarisse spat at him with her eyes narrowed. Her fists were clenched at her sides in anger. She was quick to anger, and Alec had been on the receiving side more times than he'd like.

The kid glared at Alec and he just shrugged. The kid grabbed his sword and shield. Alec smirked cockily to anger him. He left his arms at his sides.

The kid charged Alec and swung at his neck. Alec ducked and swung his shield at his attacker's legs. Since his shield was at his side, it caught him in the legs before his blade was halfway to Alec. The kid's legs were swept out from underneath him and he rolled away. He got to his feet and struck at Alec again. Alec deflected the blade with his sword and brought his shield down on his arm like a hammer.

Before the shield could hit him, his opponent pulled his arm away and stepped back. Alec smoothly followed up by ramming his shield into his off balance attacker. The assailant fell down spread eagle. Alec stepped on his shield arm and parried a last ditch blow with his shield before putting his own blade at the kid's neck.

Alec stepped back, offering the kid his hand after he sheathed his sword. The kid took it and gave him a curious but embarrassed look. Alec didn't look like a warrior; he wasn't tall he was fairly skinny. However, someone who met him before he came to camp would realize he's putting on muscle fairly quickly, considering he's been here for four days.

"See?! Now scram. Find your partners!" Clarisse shouted. She turned to Alec. "Good job kid. Now, let's get sparring."

Alec smiled when she said that, since she rarely gives out compliments. They sparred for the rest of the time, and Alec never won once. Every time he would attack, she would flow from her deflection straight into an attack before he could strike again. Also, most of the time he was using both his sword and shield to parry her blows which left almost no time for an attack.

Eventually it was time to wrap everything up, but Alec was determined to do everything to win. He was getting tired since he wasn't very strong, and he knew Clarisse was just fine. As she called out 2 minutes she started to press. Alec forced her back by bringing his shield down in front of him in a bludgeoning strike.

He then let his arms hang to his sides like he was tired and bent his knees. He bent them enough so that he started to fall forward before tucking his left shoulder into his shield to do a somersault. He dropped just in time to avoid a slash by Clarisse, who was turning around as he was finishing his roll. Before his feet hit the ground he swung the flat of his blade in the direction of her feet; not really knowing if it would hit.

The momentum from his roll allowed him to sweep Clarisse off her feet. He turned around to win it but he found a sword point at his stomach. He groaned internally as he forgot to disarm her.

"Nice move, punk." Clarisse smirked. "Not good enough though. All right everyone, see you tomorrow."

Alec walked off without talking to anyone. Since this was his free period, he didn't have more than 2 or 3 of his cabin mates around – and only 2 of them really talk to Alec.

Alec didn't mind though; he lived for years on his own and was used to having no one to talk to. He went to arts and crafts (where they made armor and weapons) with the other kids from Hermes. _I wonder how long I'll be with the Hermes cabin_¸ Alec thought_._

He actually liked it at camp half-blood, but knew that he didn't belong. The thought hurt; a dull, but intense sadness in his chest that he hadn't felt in a long time.

"Alec!" Alec turned around as he was pulled out of his rather depressing thoughts. He saw a kid running towards him; short black hair, a slightly crooked nose, and sea green eyes.

"Hi, Thees." Alec answered; Thees, short for Theseus, was a son of Poseidon who was Alec's only friend here. He was slightly creeped out by Alec at times; but he put it behind him which Alec really appreciated.

"How is going?"

"Alright. I kind of lost my cool today with Johnathan and his groupies."

Thees smirked mischievously. Thees was convinced Alec was the new Chuck Norris – except the whole son of Ares thing. "Broken bones? Concussions? You didn't have a sword, do you?"

Alec chuckled. "I don't know; I left before they got up again."

"Aw." Thees mocked a look of disappointment as they got their things and sat down. "What did they do this time?"

"They were picking on Emily for talking to me." Alec shook his head in frustration. "I mean, why is it such a crime to not hate me?"

"It's not; I barely get any crap about it." Thees said, shrugging his shoulders as Alec rolled his eyes. He started up his furnace.

"That's because you're you; no one is dumb enough to pick on you." Alec explained, and Thees gave him a smile. Thees was a very nice person, but had a fierce temper that made you wish it resembled a hurricane.

They talked as they attempted to make things; but failing miserable. Alec's helmet looked like a crumpled can and Noah's axe resembled a backboard.

"Nice club." Alec teased.

"Oh, shut up. It's still better than your over-sized coke can." Thees mumbled. He never got mad at Alec, because Alec always wound up messing with him when he did. Alec almost smirked as he remembered some incidents; needless to say Thees trained himself not to lash out at Alec in the short time they'd become friends.

They walked out, still talking to each other before they split off to go to their different activities. The rest of the day was pretty boring; he mindlessly did the activities he didn't care about and ate dinner in near silence. Most of the kids weren't mean to him (he scared them too much), but they definitely weren't open to him.

He was lying in bed staring at the ceiling. He thought about his father; he tried to hate him but he forgave people too easily. Eventually, he drifted off to sleep.

He was back in front of Tartarus again, and he actually groaned. He could hear the voices quiet down and Alec sat down far away enough so that the winds didn't pull him in.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't our little champion."

Alec snorted and narrowed his eyes. "More like your worst nightmare."

The voices laughed. When it stopped another voice spoke. "You're funny, kid. But you will help us; it's in your blood."

"I may not hate my father, but I owe nothing to him."

"He'd be glad to hear that."

"I'd be ashamed if my kid turned out like him too."

The voices laughed again. Alec relaxed himself and laid back.

"What you think the silent treatment has any effect on us?"

"Ha! We're better off this way. He shames his father's blood."

Alec continued to say nothing and tried to clear his mind of all thoughts in the dream – which is much easier in this dream than in normal dreams. In normal dreams, your mind is fuzzy and you feel like you're driving your body. That is, you can only give it little pushes to do stuff but there is great resistance to any action you try to do. Here, it almost feels real. He could think clearly and feel everything.

"What is he doing up there?"

"Probably died from shame." A few chuckles followed after that.

"More like trying to ignore how pathetic you guys are." Alec said boringly. That was definitely a lie; but he hated his dreams here and stirring them up barely made up for it. As expected they insulted and jeered, but Alec knew they were just trying to get to him. "Why do you waste your time with a mere mortal like me if you Titans are so great?"

"Don't get all smart-aleck on us!"

"It _is_ my name." Alec pointed out with a smirk earning a few more yells.

"Demigods aren't bound by the ancient laws; they have less half the power of the gods but their versatility makes up for that."

"Ooh, is someone jealous?" Alec teased. He did this for what felt like forever until someone spoke up. He had heard his voice before; but it was rare. She wasn't a titan, but something worse.

"SHUT UP YOU INSOLENT BRATS!"

The Titans voices died down and Alec laughed.

"WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING AT?"

The voice was so loud it shook the pit in its owner's anger. It was a woman's voice, but it was terrifying. He always read stories that described ancient voices or voices that resonated with power. They didn't even begin to describe this voice. It had a weird accent – not like a New York accent, but more like an endless number of accents combined. Alec reasoned that the owner was old enough to have spoken almost every language in existence.

The voice seemed to fill the air, as if it was trying to slowly fill the air with some unknown substance. If anything, that substance was pure power. This voice obviously belonged to something on a whole another tier of strength. The titans were terrified of it, and I was terrified of it even though I have no idea what it is.

"I am NOT dealing with anymore of this nonsense."

All of a sudden, Alec woke up. He stared at the ceiling and knew that there was no more sleep for him tonight. He got up and grabbed his weapons before heading out to the beach. He walked up and down the beach, trying to relax as he did so. He brought the weapons in case the harpies found him.

Eventually, his arms were tired and he went back to the cabin. He crawled into his bunk, and tried to go to sleep. Eventually, he succeeded.

* * *

**AN: How was it? I hope you enjoyed it. I sometimes feel weird talking to you in a text that you might not even read. Eh, whatever. It actually feels kind of nice.**

**Anyways, who can wait for ****_The Blood of Olympus_****?! I can't; that series is so good. Percy is one of my all time favorite characters in literature - which is saying a lot, if you don't mind me saying so myself. I watch ****_a lot_**** of movies and have read some awesome books. **

**Anyways, オユラーさんをおでします。**


	7. Chapter 6

**AN: I said it would be up tonight, didn't I? :D**

**I hope you like it. My own characters can't be OOC, can they? Probably. But they're not! It's a different side to them that you won't see often. **

**Also, would you like it for me to keep it teen, or eventually move it towards R. He will wind up fighting heroes, and he can be rather brutal at times (for a 14 year old that is; nothing torturous).**

**Anyways, ENJOY! Please review afterwards ;)**

* * *

Chapter 6: Emily

Emily was at her first activity, sword fighting. It was over 2 weeks since Alec's arrival and he looked like a different person. He had been eating like a mad man, and putting on as much muscle. That problem with that – he is getting way too good with the sword. He is legitimately beginning to outright outmatch Emily on almost any day.

To be honest, as much anger as she still had deep down towards him, she was glad it was him. He was a true gentleman; he never gloated, and if he did it was just to tease her. He did everything he could to make it fair so he would have to put the work in as well.

Sometimes it was infuriating when he would just smirk at her with that cool expression on his face as if he ran the world, but it was better than his glare. She actually had one or two nightmares about that time he unleashed all Hades on Johnathan and his thugs. The look of pure fury on his face was petrifying. She never quite got what happened there, but she just knew that she never wanted to witness it, much less be involved in it, again. It was kind of funny how Johnathan was actually scared of Alec now.

She tried to disarm him but he waited until she was turning her blade to disarm her. He flicked her blade out of her hands just before she was going to and in one smooth motion knocked her off her feet. She made the mistake of punching him one time after he disarmed her, so he always wound up tripping her or holding a blade to her neck.

He wasn't mad at her, she thinks, but he was being cautious. They almost had a routine when he'd do this. He'd hold his hand out and she'd take it. They'd take a few steps back before going at it again.

They finished and Alec came up to her as they finished. He smiled at her and she couldn't help but notice how innocent this smile was. He was actually pretty nice when he was happy, but he was so scary she had no idea who his father was.

"Good job today, Emily." Alec said.

"Thanks, you too."

That was the usual extent of their conversations that didn't turn into shouting matches. She headed off to her activities with her cousins.

When it came time for capture the flag, she was excited. She was eating dinner at the Athena table like usual, and having a good time discussing the politics that was going on about capture the flag. The conversation quickly changed subjects when Emily noticed that they kept shooting glares at the Poseidon table.

"What did the Poseidon kids do to you guys?" Emily asked.

"Poseidon stole Athena's shield! All because they were arguing over who was a better grandparent."

"Who stole it?" Emily knew Poseidon was unable to steal the shield since it was Athena's symbol of power.

"Um, we don't really know. But it _has_ to be one of them."

"How'd they get into Olympus?"

A girl shook her head. "It was taken after a meeting with Poseidon about something. They didn't need to get onto Olympus."

Emily frowned in confusion; she thought her grandparents were over stuff like this. This would be very serious even if their grudge was full force! Her mind started racing with every possibility.

They ate dinner in hushed gossip about this. Emily still thought it sounded fishy; plus, it also sounded a little bit like her father's first adventures.

After everyone was finished eating, Chiron got up from the head table and quieted everyone down. Her parents looked very worried, which kind of scared Emily. Her parents weren't fearless, but they rarely showed it.

"So, we have a couple of very important announcements to make. One, there will be no capture the flag tonight." Everyone started shouting and yelling for a while; but eventually they quieted down. "This is because we are on lock down. The harpies _will_ be set on patrol through the cabin area, and they _will not hesitate_ to eat any campers they see."

"What's going on?" Someone in the audience shouted. Emily thought a silent thank you. She couldn't figure out what was up with all this, because capture the flag is almost never canceled.

"Many of you are aware that Athena's shield has been lost…" Thunder boomed in the distance. "Fine, Athena suspects that is has been stolen by Poseidon." More thunder and Chiron rolled his eyes before moving on.

"Well, she has been blaming Poseidon for 3 days now. And, now Poseidon's trident is missing. He was on Olympus for a meeting between Zeus, Athena, and Ares when it was stolen."

"Most of you should know that the ancient laws prevent gods from stealing other gods' symbols of power, but they do not prevent demigods from doing so."

Everyone began to whisper about how the gods were blaming them, and starting rumors in seconds. She heard more than one blaming Alec.

"So that brings us to our third and final matter!" Chiron had barely finished that sentence when a column of fire descended into camp to Chiron's left, quickly followed by a flash of gold. Two figures stood behind Annabeth and Percy; and Emily could've sworn they were their clones. They looked so much alike, it was kind of weird. But Emily recognized them immediately.

"Lady Athena, and Lord Poseidon. What brings you to grace us with your presence?" Chiron bowed, and everyone stood up to bow before sitting back down.

Poseidon looked very irritated and fairly angry. Emily noticed Alec was hiding his head under the table. She was almost worried that he might get blasted for looking down, but she reminded herself that she didn't care if that happened. _Then why do I feel like I do care,_ she asked herself.

"We come on orders from Zeus himself, requiring that we enact a ceasefire for one week and 3 days. He…" Athena started. Poseidon groaned and interrupted.

"We're giving you a quest. Due to the unfortunate situation that occurred last time something like this happened Zeus has commanded us to giving you a quest." Poseidon said rather hurriedly, as if he just wanted it over with. Athena was still glaring at Poseidon. He sneered back at her. "Find my trident and her pathetic shield and maybe I'll half-consider forgiving Owl face here. You have 3 days before the week starts, so I suggest you move quickly."

The disappeared in a golden flash glaring at each other like the next they were going to do was strangle each other. Chiron looked exasperated while everyone stared at the table in shock. Percy and Annabeth were hugging each other and whispering things in her ear.

"So we are giving a quest. Any volunteers for who should lead the quest?"

Emily raised her hand, and she noticed Alec did too. Noah, of course, shot his hand up. Chiron scanned the crowd which had at least 30 hands raised, and his eyes widened, almost as if he forgot something, when he saw Alec's hand raised.

"Alec, can I speak with you for a minute?"

He nodded and followed Chiron out of the mess hall. Percy and Annabeth stared at him curiously. Emily was fuming; how come he gets the special treatment. She was the one who has been here just as long as anyone else, she was also one of the most capable demigods here, and also Alec was not even here for a month.

"What in Hades does Chiron want with him?!" Emily seethed.

"I don't know; I was thinking the same thing. I'm surprised he didn't pick you or Noah immediately." One of her cousins said. "Don't worry; that Alec kid doesn't stand a chance against you."

They came back into the mess hall with Chiron shooting Alec worried glances. Alec looked as calm as ever, which seemed weird to Emily. Even thought he was stoic a lot of the time, he still expressed plenty of emotion.

Chiron cleared his throat. "We shall decide the details of this quest later on in a counselor meeting."

Everyone started yelling after that and they didn't calm down for at least five minutes. Emily just sat there in shock; she knew she could wiggle her way into a meeting every now and then so she wasn't worried about not being able to make it. She had never even heard of a quest being assigned in front of everybody and then figuring out the details in private.

Eventually there was something fishy going on, and she couldn't figure it out. There just didn't seem to be any reason to hide anything. Everyone would know who went on the quest when they disappeared from camp, they all heard what it was about, and the prophecies are almost never kept a secret.

She walked to the big house when her brother came up to her. "Emily, do you know what's going on?"

Emily shook her head. "It doesn't make any sense! Everyone knows almost as much as the people who go on the quest beforehand anyways! The weirdest part is, I don't think the leader has been decided yet."

"What?" Noah's eyes bugged out.

"You heard me. I think whatever Alec said was a _possibility._ Now, what _possibility_ could possibly leave Chiron that unsettled is beyond me; but I am fairly certain that's the case."

"Why do you say that? "

Emily sighed. "Otherwise they'd hold the meeting with just him."

Noah nodded in agreement. By this time they had walked to the doors to their rooms. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Emily replied. She sighed, and got ready for bed. She laid herself down on her bed and pulled the covers to her chin, but she just couldn't seem to go to sleep.

Tossing and turning for an hour or so, Emily eventually decided to go for a walk on the beach. She couldn't figure out what was bugging her, but she was very annoyed. Maybe it was that urge she always had to one up Alec.

The fact Chiron asked to speak with him alone was probably bugging her more than it should. _Why does he get the special treatment?_ She thought kicking some sand. Sitting down and listening to the waves softly rolling up the beach at night was always very soothing for her.

The full moon reflected off the sand, giving it a silvery glow. The water was dark except with streaks of moonlight reflecting off the sides of the small waves. She was so lost in the moment she didn't even hear the footsteps behind her. She didn't even hear the rustling of feathers until a sudden shower of gold dust cascaded around her.

Furious, she turned around to find Alec with his sword in his hand and his shield on his left arm; a sheepish smile on his face. He was wearing the same jeans and T-shirt.

"Sorry." He said softly.

"What in –" Alec quickly dropped his sword in the sand and put a hand over her mouth.

"You really think mentioning his is a good idea when we're on _lockdown._" He whispered fiercely. _How did he know what I was going to say, _she wondered in fear. Maybe he was a son of Hecate and was using magic to read her mind. She tried to swallow her fear and shook her head. She hated how easily he scared her; it made her uncomfortable since she was supposed to be brave and strong. Being afraid was not who she was.

"Sorry." He waved it off.

"No problem to me, as long as it doesn't get us killed." He winked at her and she nodded her head in appreciation. "What brings you here?"

She looked towards the lake. "I couldn't sleep. I don't why it bugs me so much; but why is he getting all this special treatment! Why does Alec –"

Alec was giving her a smug smirk and chuckled when she stopped. He comments in a teasing tone. "Go on, it was interesting."

She glared at him. He sighed and stared into the lake as well. He then spoke with a much more serious tone – a deep rumble (for a 14 year old) that sounded like a heavy desk slipping as it's pushed along the floor. It was actually kind of soothing.

"I didn't ask for this you know; sometimes I wish I could take it all back. My father –" He gulped and continued on a different not. "Nevertheless, all this _special treatment_ only adds to the problem."

"Chiron thinking you're special enough to pull you aside in the middle of the selection doesn't sound so bad." He shot her a sad glance, as if she told him that she knew he was going to die in some horrible way when he's 20.

"Do you know why Chiron wanted to talk to me? Because prophecies are insensitive; and in my case the wrong information getting out will lead to certain death." He looked at her again and she held his gaze. It was soft, and scared. She still couldn't bring herself to look in his eyes, but she tells by his expression that they probably held a lot of pain. "It's awful really – knowing that if anyone ever puts it together, then I am as good as dead. If I slip up and use my abilities too obviously or say something that even hints at his identity, then I just committed suicide-by-you-know-who."

When he said that shot and indicative glance towards the sky. Emily was trying to figure it out, but she knew she wouldn't. He was speaking slowly, but emotionally. His dam wasn't broken; this was just a controlled release.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know." She said, feeling slightly guilty that she brought this out of him since he almost never expressed his feelings with words. It was almost always in his face; which made it hard sometimes for Emily since she still couldn't look in his eyes.

"It's okay, I know you didn't. The dreams get really irritating some times, so I need an outlet. Thanks for –" He stopped as if he realized something, so Emily spoke her mind. After muttering some rather unflattering things about himself under his breath, he finally replied.

"I get demigod dreams, you know. The nightmares; they always seem to get under your skin." Alec said earning a nod of agreement from her. They both stared at the scene in awkward silence for a minute or two; but the monster dust kind of ruined the serenity of the scene. "Is it just me or does the monster dust kind of ruin the scenery?"

Emily laughed quietly before nodding her head. Alec smiled and looked behind him. After he turned back around, Emily mimicked him, hoping to see whatever he was looking for.

"What were you doing?"

"I thought I heard a harpy."

Emily rolled her eyes. "You can hear them a mile away; they're not exactly ninjas."

Alec laughed at that. The awkward silence came back for a minute or two before she spoke again. She didn't like the silence since it was so uncomfortable, and Alec seemed fairly quiet tonight. The events at the mess hall were still on her mind, even though they really weren't that significant – Emily has never liked not knowing anything. However, there weren't the only thing on her mind.

"How did you know what I was going to say when you silenced me, oh so rudely?" Emily asked.

He shrugged. "I figured there were about 2 people who you would use in that sentence and both of them being in the big three invoking their names is probably a poor idea."

"That's actually good thinking…" Emily admitted. Alec looked flustered for a second, before staring at the water quietly again. The silence eventually got to Emily.

"What did you talk with Chiron about?"

"Family matters…" He looked fairly worried. "I really don't want to talk about it."

Emily sighed. "What _do_ you want to talk about?"

Alec chuckled sadly. "I guess I'm just not good at talking to people…"

"Why's that?"

"Noah didn't tell you?" He replied, shooting me a weird look. He sighed and looked at the ocean. "I lived in a junkyard for, oh, 7 years or so."

"A junkyard?" Emily asked, flabbergasted. _What would he be doing in a junkyard for so long,_ she wondered. "Why's that?"

"My mom… p-passed away when I was little, so I had to run. The junkyard hid my scent." Alec's voice cracked a little bit; it was weird seeing him so sad when recently she could only remember that terrifying look of rage on his face.

"I'm sorry; I shouldn't have asked." Emily said genuinely. She wasn't one to apologize, but the look of pain on his face was hard to look at.

"It's alright. I'm getting tired anyways. Have a good night." Alec said as he got up, picked up his sword and calmly walked away. Emily cocked her head as he walked so calmly, she couldn't figure out if he was telling the truth about being tired.

She returned to her room and crawled under her covers, and couldn't sleep again. She couldn't figure him out, which bugged her. Usually, she could read people very well; it was one of her greatest weapons. But with Alec, it was as if he had several different people dictating his body at the same time. He clearly showed emotions that were not always projected; you could definitely tell they were genuine. However, he always seemed to act on a different set of emotions than he showed.

Eventually she felt her eyelids drooping, and she tried to forget about everything that's going on for one moment. As she drifted off to sleep she couldn't help but decide she was going to crack this enigma that was Alec.

* * *

**AN: I just realized that I have stopped indenting my paragraphs because this text editor is a #%! pain in the #$%!# $ #$ #$. If it makes a difference let me know, because I will change it if people want it that way.**

**Euler has left the building.**


	8. Chapter 7

**AN: Alright, you have no idea how sorry I am for not updating D: School has been really crazy for me and I have been working non-stop for the past 6 days literally. I WILL UPDATE BEFORE 8 am TOMORROW; that's a promise. I don't care if I get no sleep, I am fine without it :) again so sorry, and for those who keep up with the story you have a special place in my heart!**

**I just hope there's people reading all these chapters... the stats indicate yes. Part of the reason I'm hesitating is I've been torn between 3 story ideas. I've decided to finish this before writing my non-fanfic story (when I start it I highly encourage to read it if you even thought this was ok. I've been planning so much for that story), then ****maybe**** write the possible sequel.**

* * *

**Chapter 7:**

Alec woke up feeling great. He wasn't worrying about his secret getting out, gods starting wars, or even getting shunned for most of the day. He sighed and got ready amongst the horde of people in the cabin.

Once he was ready his momentary moment of bliss was over. Reality set in as he grabbed his weapons for his first activity. He hoped to be a part of the quest, but also knew it was probably a bad idea.

After all, asking seeking redemption for something he didn't do by taking away the chance for glory for someone else couldn't be the right decision. Also, his scent was powerful, and his very presence on this quest could pose a lot of problems.

He eventually sank into his thoughts a little too deeply, and got disarmed by Emily. He stared at his sword in the sand in a muddled haze. He kept trying to sort out his thoughts but his ADHD left him trying to do both at once – which was very disorienting.

He bit his lip in nervousness. He wasn't naïve enough to think Emily was going to be nice to him after last night. HE kept his words polite and short; she had a talent for blowing up at things. "Nice."

She smirked and I smirked back while pick up his sword. He shook off the dirt of my blade. Holding it against his right leg, he was practically insulting her. It was a cheeky move, but Alec enjoyed being cheeky.

She slashed at the left side of his neck. Anticipating the strike, he flicked his blade upwards deflecting the edge of her sword and smoothly flowing into a cut. He pressed his advantage forcing her to lose her balance.

They locked swords, which formed an X across their chests. Without hesitation, Alec kneed her in the chest just hard enough to knock her over. She glared at him from the ground and swung at his feet. He brought his blade down as he collapsed a knee in a crouching motion. When his blade struck hers close to the handle the extra momentum knocked it out of her hands. With a flick of his wrist, her sword slid a couple of feet away from them.

Her glare intensified and Alec just smirked while shaking his head.

"What are you smirking at?" Emily threatened.

"You have a talent for getting angry." Alec replied honestly, and Emily's glare got worse – if that was even possible. He grabbed her sword and tossed it to her.

They sparred for the rest of the time and Alec avoided any more cheeky moves. Thankfully, he was successful because Emily won occasionally and he didn't want to be decapitated just to get in a sarcastic remark.

Emily was about to storm out of the Arena when Percy called them both over. Alec did his best to maintain a respectful distance from Emily.

"Chiron just wanted to let you know that all the counselors are having a meeting at lunch, so you'll be eating in the war room." Percy said, before turning to Alec. "Emily can show you where it is."

"Why does he get to go?!" Emily pointed her finger accusingly at Alec.

Alec shrugged. "Why do you get to go?"

Emily narrowed her eyes and growled. "Because my parents aren't gods, so I don't have a cabin. Thus I am essentially a counselor."

"Well, let's just say I'm in your situation." Alec said, smirking. Emily looked like she was about to explode.

"Who in Zeus' name is your father?" Emily said. "Why do you act so entitled?"

Alec's smirk faltered a little bit; he hated being recognized for his father or trainer etcetera rather than his own achievements - even if it didn't happen much. He spoke calmly, but his expression was stoic.

"You don't want to know who my father is."

"Emily, calm down. Alec, you too." Percy said, nervously looking between them. They still had their swords in their hands and Percy didn't want a fight breaking out. They got in each other's faces, even though Alec was about an inch taller.

"What makes you so special? You don't even know who your father is! Based on what I know, he's probably the god of pathetic disappointments!" Emily spat, growing madder with each exchanged word. Percy stood there shocked, not really sure what to do.

"He would still be more proud than _your_ father." Alec whispered fiercely. Alec was starting to lose his cool, and was desperately trying to regain control. Emily's face contorted and rage. Before Alec knew what was happening, Emily's fist crashed into his jaw. With jolts of pain shooting up his jaw, he clutched it as he stared up at her in shock and fear.

Percy turned to Emily, an angry expression that scarily resembled that on Emily's face, distorted his usually calm demeanor. Emily stormed out of the arena, her eyes tearing up. Alec got up and put a hand on Percy's shoulder before he could chase after her. They made eye contact and Alec shook his head; he needed to fix this himself.

The shame of what he said was eating him alive; he knew that she was very prideful and that his ability to stand toe-to-toe with her frustrated her. Alec wasn't exactly sure why she got this upset, but he knew that just meant that what he did was worse than he thought. He sprinted after her distant form, following her into the woods. He found her sitting against a tree, crying. Pangs of guilt knotted his stomach, and it felt ten times worse than his jaw.

He knelt silently in front of her, and put a hand on her shoulder. He bit his lip, and tried to think of the right words.

"I guess I'm sorry doesn't really even begin to make up for this…" Alec said softly. She looked up at him with a bewildered expression and he could see the pain the in those stormy grey eyes. He felt as if he was miles underwater; his body gut was tight and it was hard to do anything.

Emily put a hand on his shoulder and shook her head. She sniffled and spoke just as softly. "It's not your fault, I was angry."

Alec pursed his lips to keep from arguing with her and sat next to her. He put an arm around her shoulder to comfort her. "Vengeance never justifies an action. I acted out of vengeance and that makes me as least as much at fault as you."

She looked up at him, smiling weakly with the remaining tears rolling down her face. "You're a good person you know that? Through all I've put you through for no reason, you still remain kind to me. Why?"

Alec sighed and looked straight forward. "My mother always told me that anger solved nothing. All anger did was make us hurt the ones we care about. Whenever I would get angry and do something, she would ask me how whatever I did helped the situation."

"I may have been 4 or 5, but I still got the point of it all. It's not easy, you know. Anger is a very natural emotion; when things change in a way we don't like we try to force it back. Anger is us trying to fight fate, and that's a battle you never win."

"How is that?" Emily asked quietly. Alec smiled down kindly at her.

"Anger usually stems from denial, it's a last resort emotion when everything else fails. That's why the worst things happen when you're angry; because anger contains all of your desperation." Alec then chuckled. "If you believe my mother, that is."

Emily smiled. "I think I do; it _is_ some very convincing logic."

"I guess."

"You don't always believe your mother?" Emily said, earning a sad sigh from Alec.

Alec replied in a tone that clearly told her that he didn't want to talk about it. "She hasn't always made the best decisions…"

An awkward silence fell over them, but Alec began to find it weirdly comforting. After a couple minutes, Emily broke the silence.

"I'm sorry for punching you." Alec chuckled at this.

"No problem. I barely felt it." Emily punched him lightly and smiled too. "C'mon, let's go."

The war council was possibly the most anti-climactic thing that Alec has ever attended. He hoped it would be held in some grand marble building with people beating on drums, torches casting shadows in the dimly lit building. Instead there was the constant buzzing of at least 5 different conversations and they were all huddled around a ping pong table in a brightly lit room. It felt more like someone was failing at trying to hold a dance, rather than holding a council of war.

Alec simply sat on a window sill and stared out the window. He could see some of the beach from there and wished he was outside. It looked really nice out, the sun reflecting differently off the sand, water, and grass bringing out the contrast. But alas, Alec was stuck in a room full of rambling teens. He sat outside the circle, behind Noah and Bradley (the councelor for the Aphrodite cabin) who were in their own conversations.

Finally, Chiron entered the room, standing next to Percy and Annabeth. "Everyone quiet down."

"We all know what this is about; the quest that was assigned to us last night needs to be sorted out."

"Why are doing this here?" Michael, the Ares counselor, asked.

"There are some… delicate matters that may come up." Chiron said uncertainly, leading to many raised eyebrows. Annabeth and Percy gave Alec questioning looks, so he looked at his feet in embarrassment.

"And what might they be?" The Zeus' counselor asked.

Chiron pursed his lips. "Best to hope they don't come up at all."

Everyone stopped asking questions at that. Chiron made sure no one else had any questions and spoke. "Is there anyone who has any legitimate reasoning for why they should lead this quest?"

Emily and Noah raised their hands, and Alec made eye contact with Chiron. "Yes, Emily?"

"Well, I just thought that if the grandchildren of Athena and Poseidon returned the symbols of power that might help diffuse the situation – they wouldn't really be able to accuse us of thievery because we are just as loyal to both of them. At least, I hope." Her parents were beaming with pride after she said that and Chiron looked interested. He looked at Alec, and Alec bit his lip. He knew this quest would be good for him, but he didn't want to go.

"That is a good point. And as good of a plan as that is, there is someone else that would be accused of stealing the items if he didn't go on the quest. I would like to, encourage, you to let him lead the quest." He addressed the council, before turning to Alec. Alec didn't think about that part; he cursed in his thoughts as he realized he'd be leading this.

"Um, Chiron do you think it'd be best if I just, you know, tagged along or something? I don't think I could really lead a quest…" Alec asked nervously before anyone could blow up at him. Surveying the room, Alec wished he could take a picture. There was a startling range of expression on their faces; rage, bewilderment, amusement, you name it.

"Who under the Heavens do you think you are?" The Poseidon counselor snarled. Alec glared back and the counselor shrunk back as Chiron interrupted the brewing argument.

"I think Alec's, um, _lineage_ makes him more than qualified enough to lead this quest."

Alec bit his lip. He hated this nervous feeling; like something was eating his insides. "S-sir… I just don't w-want to put anyone else in d-danger."

"Understandable; but it might be safer if you went along." Chiron said rather forcefully. Alec hated this decision; give in to Chiron and accept this quest or give someone else the chance and enjoy some more time here – sort of. At that thought, Alec made up his mind.

"I guess it can't be much worse out there…" Alec muttered grimly.

Chiron gave him a look of relief and spoke again. "You may take two accomplices. Choose wisely, and they don't necessarily have to be from here."

"Although, a child of Poseidon or Athena might not be a good idea; but that's your decision."

Alec just wanted to scream. He hated this indecision; his life had been simple, fighting monsters and staying alive. Now, with all the drama and politics his survival boiled down to how long he can correctly make blind decisions. He felt lost, as if he was walking on ledge but couldn't feel where the wall was.

He knew he should take Emily; she was cunning, a good warrior, and made a good point about her presence helping to heal this new wound in the gods' newfound peace.

"Emily and Noah." Alec said confidently; their eyes got huge and nodded their heads carefully hiding their enthusiasm. Alec tried to grin, but it wound up feeling like a grimace and he blushed as the possible implications of his facial malfunction.

"We accept." Emily said confidently. Alec wiped all emotion off his face, actually focusing on tensing his facial muscles.

"Great." He slowly attempted a grin, half successfully so.

"Good," Chiron started. "Time for you to get your prophecy! Rachel is gone today, but she'll be back tomorrow."

Alec relaxed as people began to leave, and then he frowned in confusion at what Chiron said. Emily, seeing his expression answered his unspoken question before walking out with him. "Rachel is the newest host for the oracle of Delphi."

Alec vaguely remembered a story about the oracle of Delphi, but the name was indicative enough that he didn't ask. He was pretty nervous about getting a prophecy. _If it mentions a son of Kronos I'm dead,_ Alec thought.

Emily shot him a weird look. Alec put on a smile. _Maybe they'd just think it's Chiron or one the Olympians_, Alec thought hopefully. Noah put an arm around Alec's shoulder.

Alec went to arts and crafts, which he had next. The other Hermes kids greeted him and Alec sat next to Thees. Thees grinned evilly.

"So… How'd it go?" Thees asked.

"It was the worst." Alec said loudly over the earth shaking banging and clanking in the forge. "Ugh, I have to lead the quest!"

"What's wrong with leading a quest."

Alec bit his lip. "My scent is too strong for my own good. I got attacked by monsters at least twice a week and I lived in a junkyard!"

Thees whistled, which Alec couldn't hear but he knew the sound by now. "Dang, son. You need a shower!"

Alec gave him a half-hearted glare, before he hit the shield Thees was working on with his hammer. "Hey!"

Thees hit the helmet Alec was working on. They spent the rest of the period wrestling with the hammers and ruining each other's projects – they really couldn't make anything functional anyways.

Eventually, the activity was over and they both grinned at each other. They said good bye and ran to their next activity. The rest of the day went by pretty quickly. Some people gave him weirder looks than usual, others would glare at him, and some even gave him smiles, wishing him good luck. He made sure to smile back and thank them.

Alec made it to dinner with his sanity, or what was left of it. The Hermes kids ignored him like usual and Alec ate in silence. Chiron announced when the next capture the flag game was and all that, but Alec really didn't listen to the rest of his announcements.

He was thinking about the quest, heading back to the Hermes cabin when he saw something in a tree. It was an owl, snow white and perched on the highest branch. He made eye contact with it and could swear that its eyes were as grey as a child of Athena's. Deciding it was a trick of the light, Alec continued on. Once he was in his bunk, he reluctantly delved into world of dreams bracing for the insults and jeers he would most likely have to hear all night.

* * *

**AN: You don't know how sorry I am... :( Next chapter will be better! and real prophecy. Rhymes, Iambic pentameter if you children are good, and double meanings. I hate it when a fanfic has a half-a #ed prophecy, it kind of takes away everything from it.**


	9. Chapter 8

**AN: OK, I must say I am SO sorry for updating so late. Prophecies are a pain in the ole' behind and I try to make my prophecies good. This one is alright. I have sequels plotted :) That is mostly the reason why it took so long was trying to make sure this story went in the right direction. **

**_WARNING:_**some may find the Oracle scene rather disturbing, uncomfortable, etc. Also, these bad guys will not be nice and there may be some uncomfortable scenes (only mild torture if at all and death nothing more)! If you really would like me to tone it down, I will but I felt like a more hard edged approach to the traditional Percy Jackson Universe might be nice.

**Please Please Please Please review. If you tell me the story sucks, tell me why. If you think it's awesome, tell me why. I would really appreciate the feedback!**

**-Jedi-Spartan Perlia-467:** My first reviewer ever :D I have had the privilege of discovering Anakulmsos14 already (he has like 3 of the top freaking 5 stories). I like his/hers stories, but they can be awfully cliche at times. Percy's powers are awesome but too OP and never have a side effect. I am planning on making Alec's ability fairly taxing because it has too much potential otherwise. I'll look into PlutosDaughter 11, thanks! Perlia, really? intersting. I'm Percabeth all the way baby! I don't know, I feel like they go so well together because they aren't perfect, but they are too loyal to let things get in the way. I feel like Thalia can be too abrasive and harsh at times and brings out the worse in Percy in the books as well. But, what do I know? I'm just me.

**Anyways, here's a decent sized chapter for you. More character development (sort of, working on improving that drastically), a little switch up with the weapons for Alec (the kopis he uses is similar to the one from 300 I sucked at describing it, but it is too BA for him to not use it), and finally the quest starts. At size 18 ft. I'm at 120~130 pages XD**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Noah **

Noah sat up in his bed and rubbed his eyes. He scanned his room before getting ready. He so unsure of what was going on today – and he hated not knowing what he was going into. He was going on a quest that makes no sense which led by a newly-found and unclaimed demigod who is just as mysterious as everything else. _That's very reassuring_, Noah thought dryly.

Rachel was supposed to come this morning, so the three of them were meeting at Thalia's pine tree this morning after breakfast. He opened his door and walked to the mess hall to eat.

Noah sat down at the Poseidon table as always, and after making their sacrifices they sat back down. Ten minutes or so Theo got up and sat down next to Noah. Every kept wishing him good luck on the quest.

"You nervous?" Theo asked with a reassuring pat on the back. Noah tried to glare but he couldn't do it.

"Yeah, I guess. The weirdness of this all surely doesn't help." Noah admitted. Theo nodded in understanding before grinning like a madman.

"But you've got Alec. It'll all be okay."

"I guess. He creeps me out sometimes." Noah didn't even bother rolling his eyes at Theo's cheeky remarks. He's been on quests before, but none with stakes like these. Noah knew a fight between Poseidon and Athena would be very bad – to say the least.

"Is it just me, or does it seem similar to your father's first quest?" Theo asked, ignoring the previous comment. Noah contemplated this for a second.

"Yeah, but Kronos is nothing but pixie dust. My dad's quest was orchestrated by him." Noah pointed out. Theo just shrugged at that.

After a meal and lots of nervous conversation, Noah was more than ready for the prophecy. This was by far his most serious quest, and he was eager to prove himself.

He walked up the hill to see Emily and Alec standing awkwardly next to each other. Alec's gold eyes bored into Noah; he felt as if his soul was melting under his calculating gaze. He shuddered and tore away from his gaze.

"Hey" Noah greeted.

Both of them just nodded in response. Noah could make out the coppery scales of Peleus coiled around the tree between the two of them. He scratched Peleus' head as the camp van pulled over the side of the street.

Grins spread across both of their faces as they saw Rachel get out of the van. She wore ripped up, paint-splattered jeans with a thin red T-shirt in the same condition. The twins ran down the hill and gave Rachel a hug. Rachel beamed down at the two teenagers.

"Hey, guys! I haven't been gone that long you know."

Noah shrugged. "It's still nice to see you."

Rachel smiled at that and ruffled his hair – which prompted him to squirm and step back. Rachel looked past them and her smile dropped immediately. It dropped so fast that it looked like someone invisible slapped her. Her eyes were large and it was clear that she was trying to not let her jaw drop. Alec sighed and his mouth dipped into a frown.

"Y-You… I-Impossible…W-hat…" She stuttered.

"I'm Alec." He said putting on a respectful smile.

"I-I'm R-Rach-hel." She said with a fear ridden voice, before clearing her throat to cover her embarrassment and fear. Noah was puzzled at her reaction; he had no idea why she was so afraid. Sure, Alec could be scary, but not _that_ scary. Noah couldn't help but chuckle at the thought that this 14 year old scared witless the woman who hit Kronos in the eye with a hairbrush.

Alec leaned over and whispered something in her ear. Rachel's expression softened a little at whatever he said, even though her breath hitched and she still stared at him as if he was Hades himself. He shot her a serious but not menacing look. She nodded at him in compliance.

"Um… Care to explain what just happened here?" Emily demanded. Alec rolled his eyes and shook his head while Rachel put on a big, but clearly fake, smile.

"Some things are better off kept to oneself." Rachel responded softly. Emily furrowed her eyebrows at this, but didn't press it. "Anyways, I take it you guys didn't come here to see me…"

The twins gave her confused looks with slightly hurt expressions until they realized that Alec wouldn't be here if that was the case.

"No, Ma'am. If you don't mind me saying, I think you already know why we – or rather I— are here." Alec said calmly. Rachel nodded her head in acknowledgement. She led them past the hill to her cavern.

The cavern entrance was covered with a plain purple curtain. On the floor was a Pinkish Burhgundy color rug with gold inlay and a slight touch of green and yellow streaks. The gold inlay formed a border around the rug and a very intricate design in the middle. The rug covered most of the cave.

Other than the rug, the cave was simple. There was a bed in the far back but Noah could only see the outline through the curtain that divided the bedroom from the rest of the cavern. There were a couple torches on the wall, and a three person couch that was the same color as the rug.

"Whoever is leading the quest," Rachel started while sitting down. Noah gestured at Alec. "Needs to ask me a question. Keep it simple and generic; those usually work best. Oh, and I am not liable for anything you see here by the way."

All three of them shot each other weird looks. Noah didn't like the sound of that, and he had never gotten that warning before. Alec stepped forward.

"Oh, Oracle of Delphi, what is required for the success of this quest?"

Rachel's eyes glazed over and turned a bright green color. Thick tendrils of moss green smoke billowed out of her now agape mouth. The intricately designed rug and the colors only seemed to make the scene scarier. When the mist had pooled so that it covered most of the form it began to flow, as if someone was blowing from different sides of the green cloud.

A single figure sat on a small throne. It was obviously a girl who was no older than 16; she had hair that fell just past her shoulder and held a thinker pose with one hand curled under her chin. She had a hard face that was attractive, but clearly showed she was no stranger to violence. Her posture was that of a natural leader; she was born to bring armies into battle. She wore full Greek armor, and a xiphos was propped against her throne.

The worst part was what was in front of her. In front of her were corpses. Not armored soldiers either; these were kids in jeans and T-shirts with no weapons by their sides. Noah saw a kid who could've been 13 who was decapitated, a kid probably 10 or 11 that had their dead hands on a gash across their throats, and many more bodies. There were probably a dozen of them unceremoniously strewn in front of the throne. Noah gulped as he felt the blood drain from his face.

Her mouth opened, but when she spoke it was the Oracle of Delphi who spoke. Noah had heard the voice before, but it was just as creepy every time. The voice had an almost undetectable echo as if four people were speaking at the same time.

_"Three shall return what they seek from New Rome,_

_Where one shall face their family alone,"_

The 16 year old corpse facing towards them spoke this time. It's jaw it quivered as the decaying body tried to speak normally.

_"By the maiden's actions two shall meet death,_

_But only one will have their final breath,"_

The girl on the throne casually kicked the body of an eight year old girl with deep cut in the side of her head that reached down to her jaw. The body rolled over before it opened its mouth and more words came out.

_The traitor shall be revealed by his niece,_

_Becoming the champion of the Greeks,"_

Alec did not look like he enjoyed that. His face had traces of fear etched into it; while to most it may look like he had just watched a scary movie or something Noah knew him well enough (which wasn't that well) to know he was legitimately scared.

"That was…" Alec bit his lip as he searched for the right word. Noah held his breath for a second in hopes Alec would find a positive way to spin it. "Ominous."

Noah nodded in agreement as Rachel looked bored while not looking at Alec. Alec gave his thanks and left the cave followed by the other two.

Chiron was waiting for them and raised an eyebrow questioningly. Noah was still trying to shake the image out of his head as he saw Emily was trying to do the same. Alec was clearly uncomfortable with the scene as well. That was definitely a sight that would haunt all of them for the rest of the summer.

"What did it say?" Chiron asked carefully upon seeing their fear stricken faces. Alec gulped and responded shakily – something Noah ever thought he would hear.

"Three shall return what they seek from New Rome," Chiron's emotionless face quickly went into that of shock. Noah did not take that as a good sign. "Where one shall face their family alone,"

"By the maiden's actions two shall meet death," Chiron's look of sadness deepened as Noah realized that 2 of them would probably die. Noah only felt slightly better with the next line, and Chiron had a similar reaction. "But only one will have their final breath,"

"The traitor shall be revealed by their niece," Chiron's nodded glumly. "Becoming the champion of the Greeks."

That last line left him speechless. Noah thought that was the most promising line – at least one of them had a happy ending. Chiron tried wiping his face of all emotion but that last line clearly upset him.

"Anything else we should know…" Emily asked slowly and carefully.

Chiron shook his head. "No, but be careful. This journey might be more dangerous than it appears."

They all nodded before Chiron headed back. Alec cleared his throat and Noah gave him a look. Alec sighed.

"We should probably get ready right now." He said. Noah raised an eyebrow in synch with Emily. "Well, if we are to find this thing – even if the prophecy tells us where it is – it's going to take time. We can't afford to waste time. I'll meet you by the big house doors."

Noah walked back to his cabin and grabbed a backpack. He packed 3 days' worth of clothes, snacks, some survival gear, and grabbed his trident. Noah knew better than to bring his net; it would only get lost and so it was just extra weight

Within 10 minutes, he was down from his room. Alec had his own backpack on his back. There was no sword on his hip and a shield with its straps wrapped around the center of the backpack. A couple minutes later, Emily came down with her sword on her hip and her backpack full.

"Let's talk to Chiron. And then go grab some food." Alec said. Noah gave him a questioning look; it wasn't even 30 minutes since breakfast.

"What? We could really use some plane tickets and taking two descendants of Poseidon on a plane without a fair amount of sacrifice is a really bad idea. I hope… he might just blast us out of the sky anyways." He shrugged. "Maybe he'll give us fair warning."

Alec went up the stairs to talk to Chiron. Emily rolled her eyes. "He thinks he knows everything; doesn't he?"

Noah frowned a little bit. "I mean, he is the leader. That might be a bit harsh."

Emily just shook her head in disagreement. Neither of them felt like arguing, so they said nothing more. Finally, Alec came back down with some cash, 3 one-way plane tickets, and a black baseball cap that had a picture of a Corinthian helmet on it.

Noah pointed to Alec's left hip. He looked down in confusion for a second and then understood.

"I have to stop by the armory on the way out." Alec said.

"What's wrong with your _xiphos?_" Emily challenged. Alec just shrugged it off.

"I've been working a little bit with the kopis as well, and frankly I like it better."

They followed Alec to the armory where he examined a couple of swords. There were several styles of the kopis, and it did matter which he chose. One style had the blade curving downwards and thinning out in the middle of the blade before forming a tear shape at the end. It almost looked like the silhouette of a blade of grass with a rain droplet on its bottom. Alec skipped right passed it and found the one he was looking for.

In a sense it looked like the bottom half of a lightning bolt; it kind of zig-zags except that the top edge of the blade never crosses the midline. Alec grinned and twirled it before grabbing a sheath for it.

Once they checked their supplies one more time, they headed to half-blood hill. Chiron and Noah's parents were standing next to Thalia's pine tree. Lacey and Theo were also next to them to see Alec off. Since Noah and Emily already said goodbye to everybody none of the other campers were there.

Alec gave both Theo and Lacey a friendly hug, and they wished him good luck. Alec grinned at them and thanked them for their support. Noah walked over and said goodbye to Theo.

Noah's parents smiled at them and gave the twins a hug. Percy gave Alec a firm hand shake and both of them wished everyone good luck. Percy leaned down to Noah and whispered in his ear.

"Be confident. As long as you are cautious, you'll be fine." Percy clapped him on the back encouragingly. Noah beamed at his dad; he thought his dad was awesome. His dad was practically a legend at camp and he admits getting praise or advice from him feels really good.

Noah and Emily wave goodbye one more time as Alec climbs in front seat of the van.

During the long drive to the airport they decided to talk about the prophecy. After a lecture from Emily, which had both boys rolling their eyes at her and laughing at her frustration, they knew that all deductions must be second guessed.

"One shall face their family alone." Noah recited. "What does that mean?"

"It probably doesn't mean mortal family, so we can lower the possibility of that option." Alec deduced, shooting a glare at Emily. Every time they said "rule that out" or "won't happen", Emily freaks out. Now that they were being serious in the conversation, it was becoming very annoying to Noah.

"What if it refers to an Olympian? That would be very bad." Emily said. Everyone nodded in silent agreement. Even Argus nodded at that comment. Alec was turned around in the simple, grey seat.

"I don't like that line; it doesn't bode well. It has so many meanings and a lot of them are not good. Facing anything alone is not ideal." Alec pointed out. Noah voiced his agreement with that comment. Emily thought about something and then spoke up.

"The maiden could possibly be our grandmother."

"You mean Ath—" Alec's hand shot out to cover Noah's mouth who was glaring at him right now. Noah had no clue why he did that.

"It may not be wise to invoke the names of gods that you are accusing of attempting to kill us."

Emily gave Noah a look that said _he's right_. Noah stuck his tongue out at her. He didn't really care if it was immature, he didn't care.

"Who else is a maiden?"

Emily spoke up before Noah could. "Well, the goddess of the hunt clearly is. The queen of the heavens, the goddess of the hearth…"

"Our dearest grandmother, and the Hesperides." Noah said.

Emily gave him a look. "Epithets, please!"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Aren't you just bossy today? Sorry I don't know every name of every maiden in existence! Geek."

Emily's eyes flashed with anger. "Call me that one more time…"

After a rather unflattering comment about Noah's possible donkey nature, Alec intervened.

"Shut up! Both of you."

The edge to his voice even made Argus shiver. The Jackson twins quieted down, but still glared at each other. No one spoke a word for the rest of the ride until they got too the airport.

They didn't speak until they were in line for security. They had put their weapons in a suitcase Chiron gave them that would make them undetectable but. They would send the suitcase back when they reached California.

"Why'd the Minotaur cross the road?" Noah asked. They glared at him, but he continued. "Because he was Ho—"

"Eww!" Emily complained. Alec chuckled and Noah had a confused look on his face. Emily hit Noah on the shoulder, and he couldn't help but wonder why she did that. The joke wasn't _that_ bad anyways!

"Fine, fine. Tough crowd. What'd Poseidon say to Oceanus before he blasted him?" The other two narrowed their eyes at Noah.

"_Sea,_ you later." Noah chuckled nervously to encourage them. Alec shot a glance at Noah.

"I'll hold him, you punch him." Alec said with a deadpan expression. Noah turned to run, but found he was moving in slow motion. Alec picked him up and Emily hit him in the shoulder.

"Not fair man!" Noah complained. Alec and Emily fist bumped while chuckling to themselves. He did his best death glare but it had no effect. "You guys are evil."

They did their best evil grins at Noah and he rolled his eyes at their antics. He was a little relieved Emily wasn't at Alec's throat the entire time; even if she was at his throat instead. He could handle Emily but Emily couldn't handle Alec. Alec pushed back and Emily did not like that.

That got through security without a hassle, finally making their way to the gate. Noah and Alec sat on one side of the small aisle while Emily sat across from them.

Noah thought the seats were actually pretty cool; the bottom portion was a single leather strip that ran along each seat in the row and the back of the seat was similar. The only thing that defined the seats was 2 L-shaped metal bars that didn't protrude from the seat at all.

"So do you want to explain why Rachel about had a heart attack at the mere sight of you. I mean, I know you're not exactly Brad Pitt, but…" Emily asked Alec. Noah rolled his eyes at her weak jab. Alec's jaw tightened and he gave her a calculating look.

"Chiron says I look like my father. I guess she must've… been in his presence before." Alec said. Emily gasped and Alec shook his head. "Not like that. Just being in the same room with him would be enough."

"Why would that make her so scared of you?" Emily asked.

Alec gave her a humorless smile; it was dry and mean as if he was smiling because no other emotion really fit at that moment. "My father was cruel. In fact,…"

After a short string of rather offensive comments toward his divine parent, Emily tried to come up with a response. "I just don't get it. This is the woman who hit the Titan lord in the eye with a plastic hairbrush!"

"Really?" Alec said as Noah saw the first genuine smile from Alec for the first time. He didn't have to guess when he thought that Alec's respect for Rachel increased tenfold. "Awesome."

"Why don't you want to tell us who it is?" Noah asked carefully as he could; but he was never good at that. Alec shot him a cautionary glance that made him jump slightly.

"Some things are just better kept as secrets."

Emily made a rather rude interjection on the validity of that comment. Alec raised an eyebrow. "I think not. With all due respect, even if I did trust that you would never tell another living soul this information I still wouldn't give it to you. The identity of my father would have a ripple effect like you wouldn't believe. I wouldn't last 10 seconds."

Emily rolled her eyes. "Please, that is such a hyperbole. "

"What now?"

"Over-exaggeration."

Alec snorted. "No, it's not. One day you'll understand. Hopefully, _after_ this quest is done."

"Is that why you're here?" Noah asked incredulously.

Alec nodded. "I need something to vouch for my loyalty honestly. I mean, what possible advantage could I gain by _stopping_ an all-out war between the gods?"

Emily spoke up. "You could earn their trust."

Alec rolled his eyes. "And do what with it? Why would I need their trust other than to make sure they don't blast me?"

"You could be trying to relay information to the Titan army."

"That is a scarily good idea…" Noah nodded in agreement. They sat in awkward silence as Emily reveled in the praise for a couple minutes. As Noah was about to ask a question for the sake of conversation, the woman behind the guest announced the start of the boarding process.

"Finally!" Noah exclaimed while the others grumbled in agreement.

"Let's hope the big man up above isn't just messing with us." Alec said hopefully. They got in line as they boarded the plane, that would take them across the country. To a place where two were prophesied to teeter on the edge of life and death; and where one was guaranteed to die.

* * *

**AN: Could someone PLEASE PM or review enlightening me on how to,**

**a) preserve indentations for paragraphs when I past from word**

**b) indent without hitting the space bar a bunch of times or copy-pasting**

**c) get some ladies (Jk couldn't resist)**

**Anyways, I just pulled myself out of some weird parent-school-self induced depression that left behind on all my school work so my writing time has been usually less than or equal to every positive real number. XD**

**So I'll be updating more! YAY! I'll probably wind up writing ideas down during class and pretending to type notes on my computer during math but whatever works, right? I might pull a few late/all nighters if need be and I'm feeling up to it.**

**Alright, let me say this: read the following stories if you have any tolerance for Romance stories. They are brilliant pieces of work (in no particular order).**

**1) The Green Eyed Delinquent by Kazoquel4 **(good story all around; almost lack of percabeth but it saves itself in the last 5 chapters or so)

**2) You've Got Mail by HAWTgeek **(This story is great. I think it's based off a movie, but it's a really good story. better than a lot of Percy/Annabeth break up because of some mistake because he was drunk while they had broken up and JoJo pretty much forced herself on him. There was a story where Annabeth gives birth, leaves Percy and doesn't contact him for 5 YEARS, and comes back into his life as his son gets cancer and accidentally/not-accidentally drives Percy and Reyna apart. I hate those stories. HAWTgeek is awesome btw)

**3) Bigger Than This by PiperElizabethMcLean **(Great story; good character growth, couple/celebrity issues, etc. I really like PiperElizabethMclean)

**4) A Trouble Boy with Green Eyes by HunterofArtemis32 **(OMG this story is sooo good. It takes place in 3 stages, and I must say it is one of the most emotional stories I've read. It's not a tear-jerker per say, but you will probably cry. I almost did. It has a happy ending though, so no worries! I love this author as well)

**5)The Past and the Present by HunterofArtemis32 **(If you haven't figured out by now I'm a sucker for a good romance story - specifically Percy/Annabeth. This story is great. A somewhat valid reason for the breakup; enough so that it doesn't make your blood boil when they fall again (like the above example) but still not victimizing Percy to the point where you're wondering why he's asking for forgiveness. A little cheesy near the end fight scene, but it's worth it)

**6)TheBrotherband Chronicles By Mosgem **(Great story; this is an adventure story with a hint of Romance that I didn't really care about. The story is good and Annabeth is BA. But no one is more BA than Percy in this story - not OP, just BA. Ok, the Joker from the newest batman always wins that contest but we have to let new people win right XD)

**7)Demigods Go to High School by DragoNik **(really _cute _story. A bit dark with Annabeth's background, and Annabeth is a bet OOC at times but not too much. Still good story, with one or two half-decent fight scenes. I honestly don't know if my fight scenes are really bland or if the ones in stories like these are really cheesy. I go for a realistic approach, but I don't know how it turns out.)

**8)The Stranger Withing by HunterofArtemis32** (An AMAZING story. Love it to death. Some good gang scenes, although I laugh my butt off at the ambiguity of the gang scenes but appreciate the author not trying to overthink it. It's not too cheesy and Percy is forgivable but not _too_ victimized although it is part of the story to make him the victim.)

**Those are probably my favorite stories** (the one I hate is Never Let Me Go, sorry if I'm mean but it really struck a chord with me which I admit is hard to do seeing as I've never been so angry while reading a story. I wanted to go and gut Annabeth right there most of the story). I probably missed some, but oh well. I hope you like mine!)

**Exiled Hero is dead. It has EXTREMELY awkward conversations that never happen in real life, is too cheesy for my liking, and he is a bit of a mary sue in the making(mary sues who get injured in the process make them worse sometimes). Also, he became too good and Athena had no real reason to hate him. Damn, shame because that prophecy sure was fine. Especially the ending; oh yeah!  
**

**So to make up for it, I will have a VERY special treat later in the series (as in, conflict you might see coming but is still awesome anyways. And then I have a couple of delicious twists). I am working on this completely awesome BA character partially based of a real person to avoid mary sueness. Although the guy I based him off of makes Mary Sue look like she got nerfed worse than the carriers did by Blizzard (Ohhhhh SC2 reference XD).**

**Please review! it will make me happy! and DAMN this is a long AN. Sorry, I am pretty emotional right now (grrrrr) and I guess need someone to talk to even if they aren't listening I can pretend. In the off chance that I do wind up with an AN like this again, should I put it at the top or bottom? I think bottom that way you can read the story and then decide what to read in the AN and you don't waste time trying to get to the story. But you're the readers. Damn, I'm sorry 1300+ words for an AN. I'm swearing like a sailor :( I guess it's that 1am syndrome ya know?  
**

**I'd be impressed if anyone could listen to me ramble for this long, and you'd earn a special place in my heart if you did.**

**Euler is out bro!**


	10. Chapter 9

**AN: So here's chapter 9. I got a treat for you, but you'll probably hate me for it. I tried not to make it too obvious but if you think about it you might be able to guess it. I don't know, maybe it's because I wrote it XD. So I'm starting the next chapter. Review please! Pretty please?!**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Emily**

They were sitting next to each other on the left hand side of the plane, not really talking. Eventually, the awkward silence got to Emily. _Must I start EVERY conversation,_ Emily grumbled in her thoughts.

"So what's the game plan when we get to San Francisco?" Emily asked.

Alec shrugged. "Walk into New Rome and investigate. I mean, they really shouldn't have a problem with it, right?"

Emily gave him a confused look while Noah tried not to laugh. They had heard plenty of stories from their father to know this is not the case. The Romans did not like the Greeks for many reasons, even if the age old wound with Athena Parthenos was healed. They may be helpful towards each other but they still are not trusting of each other.

"How about not?" Noah suggested in an innocent tone. "I've heard enough stories to know that just marching into New Rome to 'investigate' is probably a bad idea."

"We need an excuse to go to New Rome." Emily said. "We need something less…convicting. That way we'll find the objects and they won't kill us."

"That would be nice." Emily shot Alec a look, who just shrugged his shoulders in defeat. Noah chuckled at that.

After four or five more hours, they landed in San Francisco. Emily wound up drawing blueprints most of the time, and finished a couple of them too. She sighed when they landed as she missed the peaceful environment of the plane. The constant arguing was going to get old.

"Do you know where camp Jupiter is?" Emily asked worriedly as she realized her parents never really told her. Noah had the same look, which made Emily feel better – at least that meant they didn't tell her instead of her forgetting it. She prides herself on not forgetting anything.

"Its entrance is between the lanes of the Caldecott Tunnel." Alec said. "Chiron told me."

"Oh."

They eventually found their suitcase and grabbed their weapons. As Alec strapped his shield on the back of his backpack Emily couldn't help but snicker. Alec gave her a quizzical glance.

"What's so funny?" Alec said in a careful tone.

"You look like a turtle."

"You look like a homeless centaur."

"What?" Emily shrieked while Noah snickered.

"Exactly." Alec lifted his chin up in the air triumphantly. Emily was still confused on why he thought _he_ won that argument when he started walking away, making her even angrier.

They were hungry and outvoted Noah on where to eat lunch which made Emily feel a little bit better. They made small talk most of the time; talking about what their weapons might look like through the mist, and such things. Eventually, Emily brought up the issue at hand.

"So we still need to come up with a reason to show up uninvited and snoop around." Emily said.

"We could say we're looking at switching camps." Noah suggested.

"No! You have to have Roman lineage for that! Plus, they don't trust us as it is anyways."

"What if we get them to help us?" Alec suggested. Both Jacksons stopped, and faced him.

"What do you mean?"

"What if we tell them we're looking for something. If we are clever we can make it vague enough so that we weren't lying." Alec explained. "Regardless, what if tell them we're looking for something they'd want to find. Or better yet, _have _to find."

Emily thought this over. This was a good plan. _Come on, there has to be something both of us would have to find!_ Emily thought.

"A missing demigod? We could kidnap someone if need be." Emily suggested.

"That would work, but it would also start a war." Emily nodded in grudging agreement with Alec. They sat in silent contemplation for a couple more minutes until Alec broke the quiet.

"I got it!" Emily gave him a demanding look. He bit his lip nervously. "What if we wait a couple of days for a new demigod to come to camp Jupiter?"

"How would that help?" Noah asked. Emily was still thinking along the kidnapping lines; hey, if they haven't joined yet it wouldn't start a war, right? Alec gave them a mischievous grin which was probably far creepier than he had intended it to be.

"What if we told them that the Titans were sneaking a traitorous demigod in?" Alec said.

"Uh, why would they believe that?" Emily pointed out.

A look of panic took over Alec's face and quickly disappeared as fast as it came. Before Emily could think about his reaction he responded.

"We convince them that there is a plot." Alec explained. "I'll attract more monsters to the camp and then they'll believe us."

"How would you do that?"

Alec shrugged. "They seem to follow me."

Emily and her brother gave him a pointed look. He held his hands up defensively. Then she recalled where he grew up; a landfill. Only such a horrible place could even disguise his scent.

"Is your scent really that strong?" Alec clearly seeing the recognition in her eyes nodded in affirmation. "_Di Immortales_ boy, you have worse than a child of the big three or us for that matter!"

He nodded glumly. "One of the many ways my father has cursed me."

That confused her. He _cursed _him. Emily has never heard of a punishment that cruel before; consider he'd have to be around 8 years old when his father did that. Whatever kind of father had the cruelty and arrogance to curse their 8 year old child like that, she didn't know.

They worked out some kinks in the plan and headed towards the Caldecott Tunnel. Jumping on a trolley, Emily couldn't help but stare at the golden gate bridge. The architecture fascinated her, but she was pulled from her thoughts when the trolley screeched to a stop.

Her eyes about bugged out when she saw what stopped them. In front of them were a dozen _Scythian_ _Dracanae_. She curse under her breath and drew her sword. Each of them had a spear and shield. _Wonderful _she thought.

The three of them filed out of the trolley. Alec turned around and gave a commanding look at them. It was a I'm-going-to-tell-you-what-to-do and a argue-with-me-and-you've-got-a-one-way-ticket-to-Tartarus kind of look. No one would dare go against whatever he said next.

"Flank and make sure we can still back up against the trolley if we need to."

He had barely finished speaking when he charged their left flank. Emily followed him with Noah right on her heels. She deflected a thrust of the spear only to duck under another one. Their formation was only 4 wide so when Alec killed one, they had them one-on-one.

It thrust again and she deflected it to her left and thrust her blade through its neck. Alec was a demon. The _Dracanae_ were trying to outflank them (fortunately, they didn't think of going behind them) and so Alec was in a four-on-one situation.

All of a sudden, Emily felt that terrifying feeling of time slowing down. She parried a thrust of a spear and slashed which only got deflected. It felt like an underwater fight, except underwater she was faster due to her powers.

She snuck a glance at Alec and noticed he had killed eight of them already. He deflected a thrust from a spear with his shield, using the momentum to stick his blade through his opponent's throat. He spun to his left as he deflected another jab and cut down the _Dracanae_ in one fluid motion. He kept spinning for a bit more and slammed his shield against another opponent. He quickly finished it off.

Everything turned back to normal and Emily barely ducked in time for the spear to graze her left shoulder. She jabbed with her xiphos and the monster turned to dust as the blade pierced its abdomen. With the last of them disintegrated, Alec walked over to them with a happy grin.

"That went well." He saw his shoulder and a look of mild concern took his face over. He inspected the wound and just before she was about to tell him off he commented. "Eh, you'll be fine."

She wasn't sure whether she was offended or grateful for the comment, she thinks a little bit of both. She nodded at him and didn't say anything. He sheathed his sword and fiddled with his shield until it fit like a turtle shell again. Her lips turned up into a smirk at the amusing resemblance of a bronze turtle to Alec at the moment. Save the muscular arms, chiseled face, and golden eyes.

They had walked until found the Caldecott Tunnel and were sitting on the top of a three story apartment – which they were allowed to go through because Alec scared the living daylights out of the guy at the desk.

She sat their patiently with Alec watching Noah losing his mind out of boredom. He was twirling his trident and tossing it up hoping to catch it. Emily was fairly sure Alec was practicing his abilities because Noah always seemed to just miss it, and Noah can usually catch it every time.

"Guys!" Emily said excitedly and pointed up the road. They could barely make out a demigod running in the median. She smirked and they all sprinted down the stairs. They sat in front of door and watched him go into the tunnel. They waited for an hour an 18 minutes – they wanted to be careful and didn't take any chances.

"Let's go." Noah said as he looked up from his watch. The trio walked across the street when they saw an opening and walked, with Alec taking point, towards the tunnel entrance. The guards were back by now and hadn't noticed them yet. Not 5 seconds after Emily thinking about that, one of the guards grabbed their gladius.

They both had large rectangular _scutum_ and a gladius. Other than the plain Roman helmets, there wore jeans with a purple T-shirt.

"What's your business here?" The guard on the right asked.

Alec shot Emily a glance. She glared at him before she realized; if they claimed some evil demigod was hiding out here than Alec should not speak very much. His golden eyes were evil-looking enough.

"We need to speak to your praetors; it's very sensitive information."

The guard on the right growled. "What's so sensitive that it requires their attention?"

"We're tracking someone, and they can't know that we know that they're here." Emily spoke slowly enough that they would understand but quickly enough to make it sound urgent. They reluctantly opened the door and trailed us inside.

Emily knew the Romans weren't to be trifle with, and that is exactly what they were doing. Emily couldn't help but think that this evil mastermind here is leading them into the lion's den, punch the lion, and try to get out before it's too late. When they found the items everything would collapse, they knew that. It was inevitable.

Emily gasped in awe when she saw the camp. The little Tiber wound around the camp in the shape of a capital letter G. The city was magnificent; beautiful buildings with the sun reflecting off the marble that contrasted with the red tile roofs of the building.

"Come on, this way." One of the guards grumbled something about annoying Greeks. Emily pretended she didn't hear it.

She thought about where or why the stolen items would be here. It didn't make sense for the Roman's to steal the items (maybe possibly Athena's shield but that was really far-fetched). The Romans were essentially supposed to be on their side, right? They both served Olympus, just with different personalities.

The barracks were bustling with a bored, routine feel to it. Everyone who walked passed them obviously did it every day; like people going to a job or a student walking to class. They seemed to enjoy themselves though. Until they saw Emily and her friends, that is.

They kept getting strange looks from the Roman soldiers as the guards led them through the streets. A small group sneered at us as they walked by, but Alec gave them a cold glare that had them yelping in fear before hastily walking away. Emily laughed mildly with her brother while Alec just smirked.

The guards clearly did not like Alec's presence; they kept looking at him out of the corner of his eyes and every time he would move an arm they would flinch. She really wants to find out who is father is; maybe he's an unclaimed sun of Phobos – god of fear. He's almost as scary.

"Who is your godly parent?" Noah asks carefully, trying to eliminate the amusingly nervous silence.

"Bellona"

"I am a child of Mars." The guard on the right said proudly, before giving them a look that clearly reciprocates their question.

"We're the legacies of Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase" They said in unison. The guard's eyes widened – as usual. Her parents were legends even among the Romans. Her father was a praetor once (before his friend was possessed and blew up part of the forum) and her mother recovered the Athena Parthenos. They had big shoes to fill.

"Who is yours?" The guard asked. Emily just realized he had kept his eyes down most of the time, barely noticeable but still low enough no one could see his eye color. She kept getting more and more frustrated with how secretive he is being when he just sighed.

"That, my friends, is for me to know and the gods to find out." Alec explained. "My father's identity only puts my life at stake."

The guards frowned in concern as we approached the _principalis_. It was round building with columns instead of walls and cloth draped over the sides. They walked up the steps and the guards stopped in the entrance, one on each side.

"Aren't you guys supposed to be guarding the entrance tunnel?" Emily asked.

"Leave that to us." Someone in front of them commanded. He was probably 18 years old; tall with short, neat blonde hair and electric blue eyes. He was muscular, but still lean and held himself with authority. He wore a purple toga and a laurel on his head. "Come forward."

There was a small dais in the middle of the room with two thrones side-by-side on it. The boy sat on the right throne. Alec took point as they approached the thrones. He made eye contact with the boy and Emily could barely make out the fear in his posture but she could still tell he found his gaze very unsettling.

"State your business here. We are at peace with you, not necessarily on good terms." The boy said, shifting in discomfort ever-so-slightly on his throne. Alec gave Emily a look that said _your turn_. Emily stepped forward and spoke calmly.

"Sir, we are here on a quest." He raised his eyebrows, signaling her to continue. "We are tracking someone very powerful and we believe they are here."

"Who are they?"

"We don't know, sir."

He gave her a very suspicious look. "Then why'd you come here. You have a prophecy, do you not?"

"Yes, sir, we do. It tells us we'll find them here."

"Tell it to me."

She looked nervously at Alec, not sure about this part. Alec nodded in consent, more like in reassurance but she's sure that's how the boy took it.

"Three shall return what they seek from New Rome,

Where one shall face their family alone,

By the maiden's actions two shall meet death,

But only one will have their final breath,

The traitor shall be revealed by his niece,

Becoming the champion of the Greeks."

Emily shuddered as the image in the mist came into her mind. Thank goodness these thrones are different from the one in the mist; that would have really freaked her out. The boy smirked at the death lines, but paled at the last line.

"Say that again?"

"Three Shall re—"

"No, the last 2 lines."

"The traitor shall be revealed by his niece, becoming the champion of the Greeks."

He cursed vehemently under his breath. He threaded a hand in his hair. The three of them looked at each other, but no one knew what was going on. The boy cleared his throat, before resting his hands on the arm of the throne.

"After the Giant war, a third great prophecy was given by Lord Apollo himself."

"Do these great prophecies ever stop?" Noah asked.

The boy shook his head condescendingly. "The is great power in the number three. Three great prophecies, given by three oracles, and this prophecy has its own reference to three."

"What is it?"

The boy shook his head again, but this time out of frustration. "I wish I knew. Even as praetor, I do not know. All I know is that it is called the prophecy of three."

Emily could tell his was lying when he said that was all he knew, but she could that he wasn't told it. She prided herself on reading people. The three of them stood there awkwardly at that. Finally the boy cleared his throat. He eyed each one of them suspiciously.

"Who are you guys?"

"I'm Emily, a legacy of Poseidon."

"I'm Noah, a legacy of Poseidon."

"I'm Alec."

The boy visibly winced when Alec spoke for the first time, and narrowed his eyes at him. At least Emily and Noah got off easily; while Poseidon might not be popular, he was certainly more respected than Athena.

"Hmm…Yeah, nice try. Who's your father?"

"I'm not claimed."

"Are you sure?"

"Very."

"If you insist. I'm warning you though, we'll find out."

"I'm sure you will; I would like to know too." Alec said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Moving on, how do you expect to find this person?"

Emily bit her lip nervously as she recalled what they had discussed before. "First off, I'd like to see if any of your guard shifts have an unusually high number of monster attacks. Then, we'll spend the days asking questions."

"The Greeks may be deceptive, but they certainly are not fools. Why did they send two young legacies and an unclaimed demigod that is no older?"

"Because it's a simple errand."

"If you say so." He doesn't sound convinced. "My partner should be here soon; she'll want to ask you some questions and then we'll find you a place to stay."

"Thank you, sir." Emily said, silencing Noah before he could complain. They waited for a couple minutes before they could hear the guards stand a little straighter. The turned halfway around.

"Please tell me you're seeing this too." Noah mumbled nervously.

"Yeah…" Alec responded.

"_Di_ _Immortales_." Emily swore as thunder rumbled overhead; usually Alec would scold her for bringing the god's unwanted attention, but he was too shocked to move right now. They all stared at the figure in the doorway.

"Did I miss anything?"

* * *

**AN: I was really bad about updating, so I felt bad about doing cliff hangers. NOT ANYMORE BEACHES! I won't do it every time, but I couldn't resist. This story will be epic in the end. I have most of the books planned out. I have the best twist for the second book. I might foreshadow, maybe just maybe. If you're lucky, or unlucky I'm not sure.**

**By the way, if you don't know what his ****_kopis_**** looks like, google "300 sword". That one XD**

**Chapter 10 is at 2k words, and going fairly smoothly. You guys will probably hate me, but in the good way. I feel so devious. :D**

**ANNOUNCEMENT: I am redoing the first couple of chapters because they suck. The scenes will be the same, just better descriptions, dialogue, personalities, etcetera. Also I realized that Dr. Thorn was a poor, but somewhat original I must say, choice. He single handedly bested 2 great children of the big three along with one of the most BA children of Athena. That was also when Percy's shield worked, so Dr. Thorn's out of their league...**

**-Euler**


	11. Chapter 10

**AN: Chapter 10 :D **

**I am revamping all previous chapters past 7 or so, because quite honestly I'm not happy with them. It will only make them better. Plot will stay the same, just Alec will be less OP as he learns and characters will stop being relevant for chapters at a time (No tyler or Louis, more Lacey i think her name is).**

**Anyways, hope you like. Like the cliffhanger? I'm kind of a jerk for not resolving the last one, but I couldn't resist (I needed to vary the PoV anyways). It's not ****_that_**** discreet, but hard to guess the finer details.**

* * *

**Chapter 10: Annabeth**

She was standing in a throne room and the Gods looked very unsettled. Zeus looked murderous, Poseidon looked the same way but a little hesitantly so, and Hades looked a tiny bit sympathetic with the rest of his face showing stone cold resolve. Aphrodite, Demeter, Hera, and Hermes looked terrified. Ares looked unsettled, and a little embarrassed. Apollo, Hermes, and Hephaestus looked like they didn't want to be here, but wanted to know what happened. Artemis was giving a look somewhere between mild hate and grudging respect; it was clear she was looking at a male though.

They were looking at something next to her; but she was afraid to look at it as if looking at whatever they were would start something. Artemis looked at Zeus with a cautious expression, as if a single word will start a war. The violent tension in the room was overwhelming. The air seemed to cackle with electricity and Zeus himself was so tense it looked like he was being electrocuted.

"Lord Zeus…"

In an instant, Zeus grabbed his master bolt while both he, Hades, Poseidon, and Athena jumped out of their seats. The others sprinted towards her and Zeus unsheathed the bolt. Athena jumped at her, while Poseidon looked like he was going to tackle a sumo wrestler his arms were so wide. She saw the back of Hades when she looked to her left so she couldn't tell who was there.

The next instant was terrifying. A massive thunderclap rang through the throne room so loud, hearing it was like getting punched in the head. That was nothing to what followed. A flash of golden light emanated from the three gods as the air combusted. The explosion rocked the room before she could visually confirm that it was there.

She woke up in a cold sweat, and would've sprung forward if she wasn't being held down. She started to panic; was she dead? Was she laying on the throne room of Olympus, a charred corpse, waiting for Thanatos to reap her soul?

She heard someone else stirring behind her and looked at the sleepy face of Percy. He opened his eyes groggily and they immediately widened. He brought her closer to him and she turned towards him. She was doing her best to compose herself, but she wasn't doing that great of a job. He whispered that she was already and softly kisses her.

Percy hugged her tighter for a second before pulling apart. She was still trying to shake off the dream. She's had really bad dreams before, but the realism of the dream only made her more worried. She was there with someone she cared about, someone who she couldn't live without.

"Do you want to tell me about the dream?"

She nodded. "I was in the throne room on Olympus. Zeus was really angry and the gods seemed nervous. Some were furious; Hades looked sympathetic for the first time in his life, Artemis…" Thunder boomed outside after the Hade's comment, which sounded enough like the master bolt to make her scream. Percy rubbed circles on her back soothingly. "Artemis looked like she respected this person, but still hated him. It was clearly a male, but this was more than her I-don't-like-you-boy look. It was weird."

"Alright, what happened next?" Percy said softly, still massaging her lower back. She breathed shakily as she stared at his face. Moonlight fell on the right side of his face, providing an almost artistic contrast between the two sides. The sheets slightly reflected the light while the bedspread was dark. The strength and comfort of his embrace gave her the courage to continue.

"Zeus grabbed his bolt. Several of the gods ran towards me; our parents and the lord of the dead. They looked like they were protecting something, as they ran with their arms out like they were going to hug us…" Percy gave her a quizzical look.

"At least you know it's not a demigod dream. Hades wouldn't be caught dead hugging someone." More thunder, another yelp from Annabeth and a tighter Percy-hug ensued.

"Sorry." He said as she slapped his shoulder lightly. Deep down she knew that she appreciated his attempt to cheer her up.

"It's fine. But, as they grabbed us Zeus attacked with his master bolt." Percy's eyes grew wide. Not even they have seen it used, except for that two times. One against the giants, and another against Typhon. One was an iris message, and the other, Percy along with Jason didn't see it until it hit. "It felt so real, and I could tell my mother was trying to teleport us somewhere but I'm not sure it was in time."

"It's alright. Your mother is too stubborn to let you die." Annabeth laughed softly while Percy looked nervously at the ceiling hoping Athena didn't hear him. An owl pecked on the window making them both Jump. He hugged Annabeth as he pretended to hide behind her; well, Annabeth knew he was scared and only half-pretending to use her as a shield.

She rolled her eyes at the owl before turning back to Percy. The sat side-by-side as he hugged her sideways, staring at the door.

"Nice to know you were there to protect me."

"I thought you didn't want to be protected."

Annabeth stuck her tongue out at him as they both laughed. She leaned her head on her husband's biceps.

"The scariest part of the dream was the emotions. I felt like I was there to protect someone; like I would feel if you or the kids were there." Percy tensed, knowing the very possibly prophetic property of this dream.

"It'll be fine. I wasn't kidding about your mother. If she made it to you you'll be fine, and anyone else you care about. She cares too much about you to let even the king of the heavens do something like that to you." Percy said encouragingly, massaging her side.

"Thanks, Seaweed brain."

"Anytime, Wise girl." Percy said, before grinning mischievously. "Wait a minute, all this comforting and I get insulted for it?! I'm going to get you for this…"

He rolled over so that he was on top of her and leaned his forehead against hers. "What are you going to do?"

He gave her that bad-boy smirk that brought back memories of their teenage years. "I think you know."

She smiled widely at that and kissed him. She could feel the pure love in the kiss, and she felt like she was 20 again. At that moment she almost forgot about the nightmare. It definitely was not the first thing on her mind.

An hour after breakfast, her and Percy were sitting in Rachel's cave. Rachel called it her "Woman-cave". Percy seemed really uncomfortable with the nick name which Annabeth thought was funny.

"That doesn't sound good at all."

"Not that I mind, but it does seem weird that the lord of the dead was rushing over to us." Annabeth said. Rachel nodded in agreement but Percy shook his head.

"What if Nico was next to you?"

"Touché."

"Ooh, did I just best _the _Annabeth Chase?!" He teased. She promptly punched him in the shoulder, and he flinched.

"Not so tough without Achilles' curse, are you now?" Rachel said through a bout of snickering. After about 14 years, he was just getting used to the absence of Achilles' curse.

"Shut up." He mumbled, wrapping an arm around Annabeth's shoulders. They pondered the dream.

"What about Jason and Piper?"

"They should be in a couple days. They are stopping by Camp Jupiter before coming back."

"We should visit Reyna sometime." Percy said to Annabeth, to which she nodded in agreement. It was funny, both of the girls who tried to go after Percy wound up being really good friends. She and Reyna got along really well; after the whole Leo-blowing-up-New-Rome fiasco. "On a more serious note, we could always Iris message them."

Annabeth's eyes got big as she remembered who else was in New Rome. Percy gave her a weird look, as did Rachel. Annabeth looked at them both before responding.

"Who else is New Rome, right about now?"

The other's eyes got big as they started arguing about what to do. Annabeth eventually silence them, since no one could hear what any of the others were saying.

"We're going to Iris message them." Annabeth said firmly.

"When?" Rachel asked.

"Now."

"One second, you know what we have to say. We can't give that information through an Iris message. She's a goddess!" Percy said.

Annabeth sighed. "She'll protect him if we ask. She might even be able to shield us from them so they don't listen to our conversation."

"We wouldn't want that now, would we?" Percy said with a smirk. Annabeth raised her eyebrows at that, but Percy gave her a _go-along-with-it_ look.

"No, no we wouldn't."

"Especially if they were named Theseus." Percy coughed when he said Theseus and Annabeth grinned. Lupa had heightened Percy's senses a lot, and it took serious skill to sneak up on him.

Percy got up and threw open the doorway curtains calmly. In front of him was a very scared and guilty looking Theseus. Percy smirked.

"And to what do we owe the pleasure of your eavesdropping?" Theseus bit his lip nervously and relaxed a little bit when Annabeth came besides Percy.

"Come on; give him a break, Percy." Annabeth said, before giving Theseus a hard stare. She didn't like him that much, being a daughter of Athena and all, but out of his lot she like him best. She could tell that Percy was somewhat oblivious to how much he was scaring the poor kid. "I'll fill you in later, ok? Now, go on."

They shut the curtains and sat back down. After arguing over who had to pay the drachma, Rachel gave in. All three of them were very stubborn, and sometimes that led to some very length arguments over menial tasks.

"We could always use Fleecy." Annabeth suggested.

"Is that any more secure than an iris message?" Rachel asked. Annabeth nodded, claiming that because she's a nymph, not a goddess, and that she likes Percy that she'll keep it secret. Rachel muttered in disagreement, "Cloud nymphs are pretty convincible…"

"Ok. Let's do it." Percy said, focusing hard to create a faint mist in the air. As he's reached adulthood, his powers have peaked allowing him to do some really incredible things. Annabeth almost giggles out loud at that thought. Finally, there is enough mist for a rainbow. "Oh, fleecy, do me a solid. Show me Jason Grace."

Jason's face appeared in the mist, and Percy made sure to put enough mist in the air for an hour or so. Jason was reading a book on an airplane with Piper on her phone next to him.

"Wow, Jason, I didn't you could read!" Percy teased making them both jump. After all these years, people still couldn't tell when there was an iris message going on.

"Shut up, Percy." Jason muttered after they calmed down. "What are you guys IMing for?"

"Wow," Percy said, acting hurt. "Do you hate us that much?"

"Pretty much." Jason teased back, Annabeth mentally complaining to her for marrying someone so immature.

"Ok, boys, we have stuff we have to talk about."

"_agelades,_" Percy cursed. "I still have to pray to Iris to tell Fleecy."

Annabeth slapped him on the back of the head lightly. "Then do it, we don't have all day."

"And why is all this so important as to make sure _Fleecy_ keeps it secret?" Jason asked, genuinely interested. Annabeth sighed. "I mean, no one goes to Fleecy for information. No offense."

"People who know the works of the communication world will, and it is that important."

Percy finished making a prayer to Iris, and Annabeth really hoped she would listen. Annabeth didn't like the idea of telling Jason because he was the one who followed rules, especially from the gods. Jason had his moments of rebellion, but she's not sure this would be one of them.

"Jason, when you get to Camp Jupiter, you will find a quest from Camp Half-Blood led by a demigod named Alec." Annabeth said cautiously.

"Ok, what's the problem?" Jason asked.

"Well, if you can restrain using names for the rest of this conversation, that'd be great." Jason's eyes widened as he knew that meant they were hiding something from the gods. Jason hated hiding things from the gods, being a son of Jupiter and all. "Alec is a son of the Titan Lord."

"What?! Why is this secret?" Jason almost shouted, but Piper still woke up. "He's dangerous, and we have no idea where his loyalties lie."

"Actually, we were thinking the opposite. We think his mother resents the Titan Lord for his abandonment."

"So? It's not the mother I'm worried about." Jason hissed. "It's the fact that there's a demigod who could have the power to rival the big three!"

"Yes, he very possibly could." Percy said.

"However, his mother raised him without telling him who his father was. She taught him Greek mythology, and taught him to hate the Titan Lord." Annabeth said.

"How did she do that?" Jason asked incredulously.

"Demigods have a hard enough time liking their parent's as it is; also, the Titan Lord isn't very likable. He probably grew thinking the Titan Lord was evil and then hated him even more when he found out that he was his father." Annabeth explained. "Some of this is speculation, but we've talked to him enough to know that he very much dislikes his father."

"His mother sounds very smart." Jason added, before joking. "She was probably a child of Athena."

"Actually, that's very possible." Annabeth said. "I didn't think of that."

"We have to turn him in anyways." Jason said.

"NO!" Percy and Annabeth shouted.

"Shhh!" Piper said. "We're not alone you know. Anyways, why are you so anxious to protect him?"

"Because he's a strong demigod, and we need all the strength we can get." Annabeth said.

"Why's that? The third great prophecy hasn't even started in the past 14 years; he will probably be dead by the time it passes." Jason said.

"You don't know that." Rachel pointed out. "Even if it took decades for the first great prophecy to come true, it only took 2 years for the second one."

"And this is a powerful one." Annabeth said confidently, and Rachel nodded in agreement.

"How do you know that?" Percy asked in wonder.

"Think about it; there are three great prophecies, spoken by three oracles with a god giving the third one." Annabeth explained in a matter-of-fact tone. "It's the prophecy of three, and it involves three sets of immortal rulers."

"That's a lot of threes." Percy mused, causing Annabeth to roll her eyes.

"Three is a very powerful number, especially when combined with powerful entities." Rachel said.

"You mean like prophecies and pantheons?" Jason said dryly.

"Yes, like prophecies and councils of divine beings." Annabeth said.

"Alright, well nice talking to you guys." Jason said, half-sincerely.

"See you later. Please, do keep his identity a secret. Trust me, you won't regret it." Percy said, and Jason grudgingly nodded. Piper waved through the connection and the three of them sighed.

"Come one, we don't have much time before our next activities." Annabeth stood up and offered Percy her hand. Percy took it, and after saying goodbye, left to teach their activities.

Percy and Annabeth were walking through the forest, acting as medics with Chiron for capture the flag. A kid got an arrow in his side, and another got a cut across his forehead; other than that, they didn't have much to do.

As the game was nearing a close, Annabeth changed topics. With her children gone, she couldn't go very long without worrying about them. They had been on quests before, but two legacies of an eldest Olympian and a goddess fated to be more powerful than Zeus attract a lot of monsters. Not to mention that they're traveling with a son of Kronos.

"Percy, what do you think the king of the heavens will do?"

Percy sighed in sadness and disdain, as epithets were now almost exclusively used for this topic and she knew he didn't like talking about it. "I think he will do everything to kill him. He wanted to kill me just because _I _was too powerful. That was when I had just stopped a war, saved and resurrected his only daughter in centuries, and freed Artemis from Atlas. Alec's father is an eons long enemy of Olympus, has the chance of being as powerful as anyone of the big three, and this will be after he finishes a quest assisted by some fairly respected heroes."

"That sounds grim." Annabeth noted glumly. It pains her to think that Zeus could be so blinded by hate as to kill his own half-brother out of fear."

"Yeah, but it's the truth."

"Maybe, if we're there for him we can use the half-brother reasoning." Annabeth said, and continued when Percy just raised his eyebrows. "What if we go with them to Olympus after their quest? Then we they vote on whether or not to kill him, we vouch for him. We could try pointing out that if their king would not hesitate to kill a mortal half-brother who has the _possibility_ of obtaining power equal to his own, that what's to stop him from attacking his real brothers?"

"You really are a wise girl." Percy said, wrapping his arms around her waist. She loved the feeling of his embrace; it never lost its charm.

"I like it when you hold me like this," Annabeth said. "It makes me feel young again."

Percy chuckled and was about to respond when the conch horn that signaled the end of the game interrupted their thoughts. They walked over to Chiron where the campers were converging, arguing over fairness, teasing, congratulating etcetera.

All of a sudden, a lightning bolt struck a child of Ares and all heads turned towards the fuming son of Zeus. Annabeth was about to rush towards him, but Chiron was already there. One of the kid's siblings turned around.

"What was that for?" The child of Ares spat.

"I was putting him in his place," The son of Zeus said, hissing in anger. "Back off before I put you in yours."

An older daughter of Athena stepped forward and snapped at him. "You're walking on thin ice. Just because you're a prince of the gods, doesn't mean you get to do whatever you want. You're just a prince who shall never become king, someone who is given a title and never has to earn it. At least _we_, have something to work towards."

The other children of Zeus dragged him away, glaring at the others. Annabeth was about to turn to Percy when she realized what her sibling said. Her blood ran cold and she put a hand on Percy's shoulder.

"Percy, did you catch that?" Annabeth said, her mind racing at a million miles a minute.

"No, Annabeth, because I can tell that your thinking of things beyond my capabilities." Percy said in a bored tone, so Annabeth just took a deep breath to calm her nerves.

"Jason was wrong."

"About what?"

"Percy, what do you call the son of a lord or king?" Percy thought for a minute.

"I think the term would be prince, why?"

Annabeth stared at him for a minute, waiting for him to put two and two together. His eyes widened and he spoke softly.

"You don't think…"

* * *

**AN: You don't think WHAT? TELL ME! oh wait... I wrote it :P**

**This feels like a filler chapter, but it's not. This is the start of a parallel plot line. **

**Please review, it will help me make the story better :) I have the coolest ending for this series planned, but I cannot decide how many books to write.**

**THANKS to all you folks who kept reading my story when the beginning sucked XD You are the best.**

**- The Leonhardest of all the Eulers**


End file.
